The Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism has accused the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nigeria of fueling the Boko Haram crisis in the North East part of the country.
The group alleged that by releasing its Global Horizontal Notes (GHN) which wrongly indicted the Nigerian Military and government for allegedly violating the Child Protection Act, the UNICEF has shown itself as one of those who do not want the crisis to quickly end.
Addressing journalists in Jos, the Plateau state capital, CATE national president, Gabriel Onoja therefore demand an explanation over the role of the international agency in releasing supposedly damning reports anchored on falsehood and malice in a manner that will deny Nigerian international support.
He said in some of the reports atrocities committed by terrorists are being attributed to government. He said this are signs that the organization apart from abandoning its core duty, has been in league with the enemies of the country over a long period of time and must be made to face to account for its negative role in the country.
According to him, one of the strategy used by the UNICEF was to periodically release reports that threaten individual troop and commander with the prospect of keeping a date with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for daring to fight for the security of their country.
He said, “We warn in the strongest terms possible that CATE has the wherewithal and network to mobilize the Nigerian civil society to force UNICEF out of the north east if they fail to offer plausible explanation.
“Our coalition will ensure this happens except Nigerians can be convinced that UNICEF did not commit the acts credited to it. The situation in the north east is too fragile to have questionable people playing international cowboys with our collective safety in Nigeria.
“In view of the many instances of war entrepreneurs posing as international NGOs, we call on the Federal Government to set up monitoring committee to keep an eye on what groups like UNICEF are doing in the country. This must be backed with a periodic vetting of all NGOs in Nigeria and their operations. The time when unmerited respect makes us accept poison from international organizations is past and there is no going back to such.”
