Metele attack: SERAP writes Buhari, seeks probe of military spending

The Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has appealed to the President to urgently set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the spending of defence and military budgets between 1999 and 2018.

In an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, SERAP says the purpose of the investigation is to promote transparency and accountability in the military.

According to the rights group, the probe would ensure that funds meant for military operations are spent for that purpose and end the vulnerability and killings of Nigerian soldiers.

Citing the reported killing of several Nigerian soldiers in the recent Boko Haram attack in Metele village of Borno state, SERAP urged the President to refer all allegations of corruption in the spending of funds meant to purchase arms for Nigerian soldiers to the Internal Criminal Court.

In the letter dated November 23, SERAP’s Legal Adviser, Bamisope Adeyanju, said: “several billions of naira allocated to the military to defend the country have neither contributed to improving the ability of Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram and other armed groups nor provided the much-needed security especially for Nigerians in the north-east of the country.”

The organisation alleged that the army’s inability to respond adequately to the Boko Haram insurgency suggests mismanagement in the spending of the country’s defence budgets.

SERAP expressed concern that several billions of naira allocated to the military to defend the country have neither contributed to improving the ability of Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram and other armed groups nor provided the much-needed security especially for Nigerians in the North-east of the country.

The organization urged Buhari to: “move swiftly to implement these recommendations as a way of demonstrating your government’s commitment to end the perception of lack of transparency and accountability in the spending of military budgets in the context of the conflict in the Northeast and to ensure the safety and security of our solders and all Nigerians in that part of the country.

The letter read in part: “The military’s inability to respond adequately to the Boko Haram insurgency suggests among other things a mismanagement in the spending of the country’s defence budgets.

Establishing a commission of inquiry to investigate how defence and military budgets have been spent since 29 May 1999 would help Nigerians to know if the funds meant to defend the country and for purchase of arms to empower Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram have been transparently and accountably spent.

“The proposed commission should be led by a retired justice of the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The activities of the commission must be open to the public and all those who have been responsible for the spending of the country’s defence and military budgets should be summoned to give a public account of how the money was spent.”

“Testimonies should be taken in a way that ensures that specific military operations are not disclosed and national security not compromised. The commission should make recommendations including on the prosecution of those found to have mismanaged and/or stolen public funds meant to fight Boko Haram.”

“SERAP is concerned that many cases of those alleged to have diverted and shared funds meant to purchase arms to empower Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram have stalled.

Given the continuing delay in the prosecution of such cases, and the need to send a strong message that corruption in the spending of funds meant to fight Boko Haram insurgents will not be tolerated, we urge you to immediately refer all such cases for investigation and prosecution by the ICC.”

“SERAP notes that article 13(a) of the Rome Statute of the ICC provides a basic right to states parties including Nigeria to refer to the ICC prosecutor cases such as those involving mismanagement and/or stealing of funds meant to purchase arms to empower Nigerian soldiers to fight Boko Haram.”

“Capacity and deficiencies in the way arms purchases are decided and controlled if not urgently addressed would continue to expose our soldiers to risk of attacks and killings;

displace people and destroy their means of livelihoods and render them homeless, thereby undermining human rights, including the right to life, right to personal security, right to education and right to livelihood.”