A report released in Abuja yesterday by the Centre for International and Strategy Studies (CISS) alleged that activities of Amnesty International (AI) and other non-state actors incite Nigerians against the Federal Government and the Nigerian military.
The report further accused AI of taking sides with some militant groups like Boko Haram, Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and several other groups that have risen against the government.
The report alleged that AI was sympathetic to militant groups whose actions have led to the loss of lives and property worth billions of naira.
CISS chancellor, Prof. Ahmed Danfulani, who presented the report in Abuja, accused AI of being unfair to the Nigerian government in the quest to ensure that Nigeria is free from the clutches of terrorist organisations.
He said that actions of AI have led to increasing suspicion that it was acting a script to cause relative unrest in Nigeria through its activities.
Danfulani, who was the former Director General, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), said the report confirmed evidence that AI was directly or indirectly in support of Boko Haram terrorists and other militant groups that have risen against the Nigerian state.
He said that after painstaking research work on the human rights compliance of the Nigerian government in the discharge of its constitutional responsibilities, they were able to establish that the allegations against the Nigerian government and its armed forces by AI were untrue.
The report advised the Nigerian government to be careful in their relationship with AI. It also advised that the government should reject every form of a recommendation from AI until proven that it is not against the Nigerian state.
It also challenged AI to avail to Nigerians the details of their research methodology in the compilation of its annual reports.
The report requested that AI prove beyond a reasonable doubt that its core objectives in Nigeria are in tandem with international best practices that stipulates objectivity and fairness to all concerned.
