Last month, President Buhari reinstated Major General Mohammed the former general officer commanding the Seventh Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, who was suspended after his troops opened fire on him during a mutiny. In September 2014, 12 soldiers were sentenced to death by a military tribunal after they were found guilty of mutiny following an incident on May 14 when they fired shots at Major General Mohammed in Maiduguri.
In 2014, the chief of defence staff Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, ordered the then chief of army staff Major General Kenneth Minimah, to immediately relieve Major General Mohammed of his post in order to save the integrity of the military before the global community. Major General Mohammed is also accused of the mass murder of hundreds of detainees when he was divisional commander.
Amnesty International has condemned his reinstatement, saying it underlines the monumental failure of the Muhammadu Buhari government to stamp out impunity for war crimes at the highest level. Last June, Amnesty International named Major General Mohammed, along with eight other senior commanders, calling for an investigation into their possible criminal responsibility for war crimes including the deaths of more than 8,000 of detainees.
According to Amnesty International's in-depth report a range of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity were committed by the Nigerian military in the course of operations against Boko Haram. It found that, since March 2011, more than 7,000 people were starved, suffocated and tortured to death in military detention camps, while a further 1,200 were rounded up and unlawfully killed.
Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general, said: “Major General Mohammed must be investigated for participating in, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of hundreds of people. Young men and boys, rounded up by the military, were either shot, starved, suffocated or tortured to death and no one has yet been held to account.
"It is unthinkable that Major General Mohammed could resume command of troops before an investigation has even begun. Seven months after the publication of these horrific discoveries and the president’s pledge that they will be looked into, we continue to call for urgent independent investigations to begin.”
Titled Stars on their shoulders, blood on their hands: War crimes committed by the Nigerian military, the Amnesty International report was based on years of research and analysis of evidence. This included leaked military reports and correspondence, as well as interviews with more than 400 victims, eyewitnesses and senior members of the Nigerian security forces.
It exposed a range of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity committed by the military in the course of operations against Boko Haram. Also, it named nine senior Nigerian military figures along the chain of command who should be investigated for potential command and individual responsibility for the crimes committed.
Since the publication of the report, four of the named military commanders have retired, while two others had already retired prior to the publication of the report. Mr Shetty insisted, however, that those responsible for the crimes detailed in Amnesty International’s report must be held to account, no matter their rank or position.
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