FCT Indigenous Group Accuses Amnesty International of Selective Human Rights Intervention
- The Abuja Original Inhabitants Youths Empowerment Organisation challenged Amnesty International over its involvement in the Kuje Area Council chairman controversy
- AOIYEO Executive Director Isaac David questioned why Amnesty had not previously spoken on demolitions, land disputes and marginalisation of FCT indigenous communities
- David said indigenous residents across 858 FCT communities had raised rights concerns for years without receiving attention from international human rights organisations
PAY ATTENTION: Mark Legit.ng as a preferred source, and our content will appear higher in your Google feed!
Indigenous residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have taken aim at Amnesty International, accusing the global human rights body of applying inconsistent standards after it weighed in on a political dispute involving the Kuje Area Council chairman.
The Abuja Original Inhabitants Youths Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO), speaking through its Executive Director, Commandant Isaac David, addressed a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday in response to Amnesty International's reaction to a viral video allegedly showing Kuje Area Council Chairman, Hon. Samuel Danjuma Shekwolo, making threatening political remarks.
Source: Twitter
The chairman was reportedly heard in the video saying, "It's either you are doing APC or leave the Area Council," a statement that drew condemnation from several quarters, including Amnesty International.
**AOIYEO's Core Complaint Against Amnesty**
David was clear that AOIYEO was not defending the chairman's alleged remarks. His concern centred on what he described as the organisation's sudden interest in a local political matter while ignoring far older grievances of indigenous FCT communities.
"It is therefore disappointing that in all these years, we have not seen Amnesty International speak up for the indigenous people of the FCT on issues of land rights, rights to life, exclusion and marginalisation by the Federal Government," he said.
He pointed to years of reported demolitions, forced displacement without adequate compensation, insecurity, and political exclusion affecting indigenous communities spread across 858 settlements in the FCT, arguing these represented systemic violations that international human rights bodies should have engaged with long ago.
David also raised historical comparisons, questioning why Amnesty International had not responded with equal urgency to inflammatory political statements from more prominent figures. He cited former President Olusegun Obasanjo's reference to the 2007 election as a "do or die" affair, and comments attributed to the Oba of Lagos during the 2015 elections about throwing a political opponent into the lagoon. "Where was Amnesty International when these statements were made?" he asked.
He further alleged, without providing supporting evidence, that Amnesty International's intervention was partly motivated by a desire for social media visibility.
**Call for Consistent Advocacy**
David argued that for Amnesty International's credibility to hold, its interventions must be impartial and not shaped by the political profile of those involved.
"To now see the organisation involved in what is essentially a local political context issue at the local government level risks diluting the mandate of the organisation," he said.
He also used the occasion to caution political leaders more broadly, saying younger politicians often model their conduct on senior figures, warning that inflammatory rhetoric could normalise intolerance in governance.
AOIYEO urged Amnesty International to focus on what it called the more pressing and long-delayed rights concerns of FCT indigenous communities. "That is where your voice will mean the most," David said.
The group also called on all parties to resolve the Kuje controversy through dialogue and democratic processes, and to protect peaceful relations between indigenous and non-indigenous residents of the FCT.
Source: Legit.ng
