Letter to President Goodluck Working Group

 

His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Aso Rock Presidential Villa

Abuja, Nigeria

 

Dear President Jonathan,

On behalf of the Working Group on Nigeria, a coalition of U.S. organizations we

would like to commiserate with you on the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency and other

sectarian attacks in northern Nigeria that have claimed the lives of numerous innocent

citizens including yesterday’s horrendous bomb blast. The Working Group advocates in

Washington, the UN, ICC and other fora concerning the precarious situation in Nigeria.

In addition, some of our members also engage in relief and humanitarian assistance to

Nigeria’s victims.

 

We are deeply concerned about the devastation Boko Haram has brought not only to your

people in northern Nigeria but also to citizens of fifteen other nations who have died at

their hands.

Available data shows that:

• Boko Haram was the second most deadly terrorist group for the year 2012 ranking only

behind the Taliban – and ahead of Al Qaeda.

• Over five thousand lives have been lost in this largely silent slaughter in Nigeria at the

hands of Boko Haram including members of the U.N. staff in the 2011 U.N. bombing.

• Nearly one-third of the religious institutions targeted globally in 2012 were located in

Nigeria, where Boko Haram overwhelmingly attacked churches.

• There were more attacks on religious institutions in Nigeria than there were attacks on

diplomatic embassies around the world combined.

 

The time has indeed come to help bring an end to this genocide and to provide aid to

victims, especially as the crisis has now assumed international dimensions with thousands

of Nigerian refugees spilling into Cameroun, Chad and Niger. Nigeria has always been a

host to refugees fleeing conflict in other nations, and we commend you for generously

accommodating them over the years. However it is deeply troubling to see Nigeria, which

has been a regional oasis for refugees, now become a refugee-exporting country.

Regrettably, no victim compensation fund for the victims of these massacres currently

exists. However, the Nigerian government is reportedly spending about thirty million

dollars to repair the U.N. building in Abuja after it was bombed in 2011. Over 300 churches

have been destroyed between the U.N. bombing in 2011 and 2013, about half a dozen

mosques attacked and thousands of homes, farms and businesses as well, yet there is no

restitution program for the victims.

 

In 2011 attacks around Nigeria’s capital city, Boko Haram first bombed the Police HQ in

June, ACFM church in July, the U.N. building in August, St. Theresa’s Catholic church and

MFM Jos on Christmas day – all fatally. Recently, our fact-finders visited St Theresa’s and

found a mother who lost her husband and three children in the bombing, struggling to care

for a 13-year old son who survived but still has shrapnel in his skull – 2 years after. People

like this would benefit from a VCF.

 

These victims are desperate. Desperation and destitution in the face of impunity are

potential drivers for retaliation and escalation. This needs to be urgently mitigated.

We humbly recommend that you take the following urgent steps to help ameliorate the

situation:

1. Develop a comprehensive Human- Impact Management Strategy (HIMS) that

provides adequate assistance and immediate/long-term interventions for the 5.9

million people affected by the insurgency according to UNHCR estimates.

2. Sign the UNHCR Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) agreement to facilitate

multilateral and other donor humanitarian assistance to victims..

3. Establish a victim compensation fund to assist the victims of the large-scale

destruction in the north. We consider the needs of your people to be a higher

priority and responsibility than the rebuilding of the U.N. building in Abuja and urge

the Nigerian government to institute at a very minimum the equivalent amount of

the renovation costs towards a Victim Compensation Fund (VCF).

4. Repatriate, as a matter of the utmost urgency, Nigerian citizens who are refugees

in Cameroun, Chad and Niger and reintegrate them in safer locations within the

country

5. Institute satellite monitoring and other early warning and rapid response

mechanisms to effectively preempt further atrocities This is all the more critical in

this Easter holiday period when attacks have historically occurred.

 

We wish you Godspeed as you work to bring peace, security and stability to your great

country.

 

Sincerely,

ABC&D COMMUNICATIONS

Don Beehler, President

ADVOCATES INTERNATIONAL

Brent McBurney, Esq., President

AFRICA COMMITTEE – INT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ROUNDTABLE

Scott Morgan, Chair

CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN AMERICANS, MD/DC/VA

Dr Kemi Onanuga, Regional Coordinator

IGBO LEAGUE

Kanayo K. Odeluga MD., MPH, Executive Director

INDEPENDENT RESEARCHER & WRITER

Andrew Harrod, LL.M Ph.D

THE INSTITUTE ON RELIGION AND DEMOCRACY

Faith McDonnell, Director Religious Liberty Programs

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

Jeff King, President

JUBILEE CAMPAIGN

Ann Buwalda, Esq., Executive Director

JUSTICE FOR JOS PLUS

Special Counsel, Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM COALITION

William J Murray, Chairman

SOLIDARITY WITH THE PILGRIM CHURCH

Steven Wagner, President

WESTMINISTER INSTITUTE

Katharine Gorka, Executive Director