Two years after the Nigerian military was accused of killing some 350 Nigerians in what has been termed the Zaria massacre, the British High Commission has called for accountability.
British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, made the call in a tweet on his official Twitter handle, saying the several investigations, reports and recommendations has remained unimplemented.
“It is two years since the #Zaria incident when some 350 Nigerians were killed by the military. Since then there have been several investigations, reports and recommendations.
“But a number of recommendations remain to be implemented. We call for accountability on all sides,” Arkwright said.
TheNewsGuru recalls the Zaria massacre was a massacre carried out by the Nigerian Army in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria on Saturday, 12 December 2015.
Up to 348 Shiites, including members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria were killed.
The Army claimed it had responded to an attempt to assassinate Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai by the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.
This claim has been strongly rejected by the Islamic Movement and several human rights organizations who argue that the massacre occurred without any provocation and that all the protestors were unarmed.
In January 2016, the Kaduna State Government formed the Commission for Judicial Inquiry into the causes of clashes in Zaria between the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and the Nigerian Army in December 2015, under the chairmanship of Justice Mohammed Garba, the presiding justice of the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal.
On 1 August 2016, the commission of inquiry found the army gunned down 348 Shiites and urged the prosecution of all those involved in the killings.