By: Hersha Terhemba
Event’s of the 12th& 14th December 2015 earned a place in the registry of
infamous happenings in the history of this country. The unfortunate events
saw beasts clad in “army” uniform unleash violence against Nigerians, who
are also Shia Muslims by religious persuasion.
The violence that was melted against these individuals is reminiscent of
the My Lai Massacre of 16th March 1968 in Son Tinh District of South
Vietnam, when a task force from the United States Army Americal Division
massacred unarmed civilians with a disputed casualty figure. This massacre
shares similar triats with the Zaria massacre in that the scale of
violence was enormous and disproportionate, there has been a deliberate
cover-up by the authorities.
The Zaria massacre was a premeditated attack against against members of
the Islamic Movement Of Nigeria(IMN) by the Nigerian “Army”. The “army”
claimed that there was an assassination attempt against the “Chief Of Army
Staff” Tukur Buratai, where it later released an edited video to justify
their dastardly act. Human Right Watch described the killings as a
“terrible carnage” and “unjustifiable”. Daniel Bekele, the African
director of the group said “the Nigerian military’s version of events does
not stack up”.
His Eminence Sheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky was shot four times during the
attack escaped death by the whiskers, and has since been held
incommunicado by the Nigerian authorities. One Nasir El Rufia, the
“Governor” of Kaduna State where the massacre took place, supported this
vampires, and subsequently claimed to have instituted a sham Judicial
Commission Of Inquiry to investigate the genocide. It is important to note
that the findings of this commission has been predetermined, and it will
be a hoax for anyone to believe it can offer anything credible.
The concerted cover-up by the “army” hierarchy is deplorable and
unbecoming of an “army” that said it acted “professionally”. Amnesty
International in a newly released report about the massacre said it was
able to uncover evidence of a possible mass grave in Mando Zaria with the
aid of satellite imaging. In its report titled “Unearthing The Truth:
Unlawful Killings and Mass Cover-Up in Zaria” is based on interviews it
held with 92 people including victims, witnesses from the Shiite and other
communities, relatives of victims, residents, lawyers and medical
personnel contains shocking eyewitness testimony of large scale unlawful
killings.
The report highlights the agony of relatives of victims of the massacre,
which the Buhari led government has continued to deny. With the plethora
of evidence against this “army” and the dragging to the ICC of President.
muhammadu Buhari, Nasir El Rufia, Tukur Buratai and others by the Islamic
Human Rights Commission(a UK based Muslim advocacy organization), the
calls for the prosecution of these war criminals will further receive a
boost with these revelations.
The ICC has announced the commencement of detailed investigations into the
killings in line with part 2, article 5 of the Rome Stature establishing
the court. Hopefully by the end of its investigations, international
arrests warrants would be issued out for these war criminals. The victims,
survivors and their loved ones whose lives have been shattered will find
succour only when justice is dispensed. I conclude with Elie Wiesel’s
words “there may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but
there must never be a time when we fail to protest”.