CITING shoddiness, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has rejected the preliminary reports on the Baga tragedy, submitted by the military high command and National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), saying available, verifiable evidence has shown that the investigation that produced the reports was everything but thorough.
In a statement issued in Lagos Thursday by the ACN National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party therefore called for an urgent and independent investigation into the April 16 2013 incidents at Baga to establish the truth, instead of an apparently shoddy investigation that could only have produced a convoluted report.
''Those who carried out that investigation apparently discountenanced the fact that in today's world, nothing is hidden. Thanks to the satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, the world is now aware of the massive devastation that occurred in Baga. It is actually worse than what has been reported!
''The satellite images support the conclusion by the rights group that
2,275 buildings were destroyed in the clashes. They also seem to support the statements credited to the Senator Lawan Maina who is representing the area, who put the death toll at 220.
''Contrast this to NEMA's conclusion that far less than 1,000 homes were destroyed, or the military high command's finding that only 36 people were killed, and it becomes glaring that something is wrong somewhere.
''The Nigerian media, now the favourite whipping boy of an increasingly edgy administration, has come under fire for reporting the massive killings and devastation. But those criticising the Nigerian media should endeavour to follow the international media's reportage of the events in Baga to see that the local media is not just crying wolf,'' it said.
ACN said Nigeria would have been spared the global opprobrium resulting from the Baga tragedy, had the government and the military carried out a more diligent investigation of the incidents instead of acting in a defensive manner and trivialising the destruction wrought in Baga by saying most of the destroyed houses were made of thatched roofs anyway, as if it was a sin to live in such structures.
''In case the government has not seen the report of Human Rights Watch on the Baga tragedy, here is a quote from it: The Nigerian military has a duty to protect itself and the population from Boko Haram attacks, but the evidence indicates that it engaged more in destruction than in protection...The glaring discrepancies between the facts on the ground and statements by senior military officials raise concerns that they tried to cover up military abuses.''
The party said while it would not conclude that all the destruction and the killings in Baga were carried out by soldiers, the truth is that the military, an embodiment of state power, bears more responsibility anytime it is involved in a situation similar to that of Baga, or Odi and Zaki Biam before it.
The Guardian