Osun Election: Amnesty International To ‘Name And Shame’ Nigerian Politicians Inciting Violence Across 150 Countries | Sahara Reporters

Amnesty would use its international network in 150 countries to ensure that people accused of encouraging violence are identified and brought to the attention of governments and relevant institutions in other countries.

Amnesty International Nigeria has announced plans to document and expose politicians and other individuals advocating electoral violence, warning that those who incite killings during elections will face international scrutiny.

The Country Director, Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, disclosed this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, saying his organization would compile evidence against individuals involved in election-related incitement and share the information internationally.

Sanusi said the initiative was being developed in response to what he described as early signs that politicians could exploit ethnicity and religion to fuel violence during the Osun State governorship election and other elections scheduled to hold in the coming months.

He said Amnesty would use its international network in 150 countries to ensure that people accused of encouraging violence are identified and brought to the attention of governments and relevant institutions in other countries.

Sanusi said, “One of the things we are planning to do this time, because of the early signs that ethnicity and religion will be exploited in this election or possibly other elections that are coming up in January, what we plan to do is to make sure that we documented these things and individuals identified.”

Specifically, he referred to Senator Francis Fadahunsi in Osun State whom he alleged had called on supporters to kill members of an opposition political party.

He said Amnesty would document such statements and actions and develop what he described as an international case against individuals responsible for inciting violence.

“We are going to document what they have done and we are going to take it to the international level,” he said.

“We are going to make sure that they will never have peace again, because anybody who advocated violence, anybody who incited others to kill others just so that he can be in power or his party should win or manipulate election, that person does not deserve any respect, any decorum.”

Sanusi said Amnesty would also pursue what he called an international “name and shame” campaign against those found to have promoted electoral violence.

“Justice is not limited to Nigeria. Somebody can be held to account somewhere in the world and we are exploiting all these methods and we are also going to make sure that we do international name and shame,” he said.

“Amnesty International has branches in 150 countries and we will make sure that in all these countries these people are named and shamed and we alert the governments of other countries about how dangerous this person is.”

He said the organisation’s initiative was aimed at ensuring that political actors understand that there would be consequences for using violence as a tool for gaining political power.

According to him, the absence of consequences for election-related violence has encouraged politicians and their supporters to continue with impunity.

“And that, I believe, is the beginning. And I believe that as Nigerians we also have to demand the best,” Sanusi said.

“When the government is not doing the right thing, we have to tell them to do it. They have to do it. I believe that one of the things that is allowing these things to continue to happen is because there was no consequence.”

Sanusi expressed concern over the deaths recorded in Osun State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election, saying the victims were ordinary Nigerians whose lives had been destroyed because of political interests.

He referenced reports that at least 29 people had been killed in politically motivated violence in the state.

“Just imagine, in a very small state like Osun, people being killed, 29,” he said.

“Who are these human beings? You know, there are people with lives, people with families, people with jobs, people with aspirations and ambitions, and their lives got shot just because somebody wanted to be riding in a convoy with siren.”

He called for stronger public resistance to political violence, saying polling units should be places where citizens exercise their democratic rights peacefully rather than become battlefields.

“Voting, polling units should not be like battlegrounds,” Sanusi said.

“They should be a place of peace, they should be a place of assertion of people’s freedom and liberty to do and choose what they want politically without fear.”

The Amnesty official also warned against the use of religious leaders and ethnicity to mobilise voters or supporters for violent political purposes.

He said individuals involved in hiring religious figures to promote political violence would also be documented and exposed.

“Politicians using religion or hiring notorious hash for hire clerics on either Christian or Islamic side, we are going to call them out and make sure that they will never do it again,” he said.

Sanusi’s warning comes amid heightened tension ahead of the August 15 Osun governorship election, with political parties trading allegations of intimidation, threats and politically motivated attacks.

SaharaReporters had previously reported that human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, warned that at least 30 people had been killed in politically motivated violence in Osun State in the weeks leading to the election.

Falana, while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said the killings were a more urgent concern than other political controversies surrounding the election and warned that failure to arrest and prosecute perpetrators could result in further bloodshed.

SaharaReporters also reported allegations by Osun Accord Party campaign spokesperson Bamidele Salam that the All Progressives Congress was planning to suppress voting in six local government areas in Ijeshaland and subsequently manipulate results. The allegation was made while Salam appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today.