The Global Peace and Life Rescue Initiative (GOPRI), has said it will not backtrack on its insistence that amnesty international must quit Nigeria, saying it will not give in to intimidation or blackmail from those it described as “colluding citizens who had hitherto posed as activists and moral compass of the society”
Speaking at a parley with the press on day four of its protest to kick Amnesty International out of Nigeria at Unity Fountain Abuja, GOPRI executive Director, Melvin Ejeh insisted that it will not give in until the international organization accounts for every life that was lost to the Boko Haram terrorists as a result of lies sold to the United States Government to deny us the procurement of arms.
He said the group has commenced procedures to challenge the unsubstantiated lies and barefaced falsehood which they author to the United States of America in a letter to stop the sale of arms to our country to fight terrorism.
He said AI must be made to account for the lives and property of citizens that were lost to Boko Haram within this period of time. According to him, “it is an expansive venture to go to the International Criminal Court (ICC) but the struggle for the Sovereignty of the Nigerian state cannot be compromised until we are totally rescued from all the enemies of Nigeria.”
Ejeh disclosed that at least 100 civil society organizations have written to their organization indicating their interest to jointly hold the protests across the various states in Nigeria starting from next week.
He said through its sustained campaign, Nigerians now know the double standards of amnesty international and are willing to join the protests at every location.
He said, “We announced that we shall begin a series of protests, sit-ins, die-ins and other acts of protestation against this entity until such a time it heeds the legitimate demand from Nigerians to leave Nigeria in view of its confirmed subversive activities in support of terrorists and insurgent groups in the country.
He said through it’s double standards, the international organization has proved that it has no regards for Nigeria and it’s citizens.
He said, “For context of how much regards Amnesty International has for us as a people and the value it places on the lives of citizens depending on their nationality, an alleged terrorist who stabbed a police officer in the United Kingdom was promptly executed on the crime scene. Incidentally, this happened in London, Amnesty International’s headquarters and there has been no outrage from this criminal entity.
“It would be simply explained as taking action to safeguard other citizens. But if security agencies were to so gun down a Boko Haram terrorist or insurgent in Nigeria, Amnesty International will rush to issue a report about extra judicial killing. The message here is clear, it is fiat to say the life of a Nigerian is less than that of a Briton or any other European in terms of how terrorism should be combated.
“A few hours ago, a US airstrike targeted a school in Mansoura, Raqqa District of Syria in which more than 30 innocent civilians, victims already suffering under the Islamic State, were killed. Amnesty International, which has serious presence in the United States has not come out to condemn this even when a less intense incident in 2014 was the basis on which it wrote a letter to the then President Barack Obama in which it argued for the stoppage of the sales of Super Tucanos attack aircrafts to Nigeria.
Ejeh described as shameful attempts by some civil society groups to discredit the activities of GOPRI, accusing them of “selling their conscience to the devil and think that they are the only right thinking persons in a population of more than 180 million persons.”
He said, “these set of persons believe that they are the only ones that know the rudiments of the civil society and therefore any other practitioner in the fourth sector is an outsider or must participate in sharing their evil foreign currencies gotten in the name of grants, fellowships, scholarships or sponsorships.
“We make bold to state that no one has the monopoly of intellectual dominance and we shall match them intellect for intellect. Their desperate attempt to discredit this group whose only sin is its insistence on protecting our people from activities that promote acts of terrorism.”
Reacting to allegations that members I the group were hired and were caught on camera sharing money, I said, “We were not unaware of their strategy to infiltrate our ranks with fake members and thereafter circulate a fake media report that protesters were paid N500 each.
“This has failed and failed woefully. Their attempt at tarnishing us flew in the face of logic because what person being paid to protest would willingly pose for photographs while receiving the money? We know that the forty so called NGOs that signed a statement attempting to disparage us regularly collect money from Amnesty International, which is why they are viewing legitimate protesters from the same prism. We want them to come out and tell Nigerians that they do not usually collect money from Amnesty International in the name of honoraria, transport refund, and travel grants.”
