The Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC) has condoled the government of the United States on the killing of four of the country’s Embassy staff in Libya, including the country’s envoy, Mr Chritopher Stevens.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday, the group which is made up of 65 civil society groups said the murder of the four Americans was “callous and inhuman,” urging the Libyan government to take full responsiblity for the lack of protective cover of the US foreign mission in Benghazi. The statement signed by the group’s spokespersons, Mrs Feyi Omolade Adeoye and Mallam Olu Suleman Sanusi condemned the killings, saying that there was no justification for taking the lives of the diplomats considering the fact that they have no link with the alleged source of the film that was said to have provoked the attack. The group said it cherishes religious freedom and does not support the desecration of any religion, but said the murder of the four diplomats was a revenge sought against non-provocateurs. The coalition described the murder as a “fatal assault on innocent people that have done nothing to hurt the religious sensibilities of others and therefore does not in anyway deserve the cruel death imposed on them.”
“We in the human rights community in Nigeria condemn these wanton destruction of human lives and we stand with the American people in this tragic moment of grief. Our heartfelt condolenses go to the families of the slain diplomats, their children and their relations who have been thrown into avoidable trauma by the inhuman killings.” The group said rather than serving as a victory for the perpetrators, the killings have further united those forces that believe in freedom as against those that stand ferociously against it.”
The group urged the Nigerian government to see the killing as a wake-up call, saying that given the high-pitched faith-induced violence that has been rocking Nigerian for the past two years, the Libya tragedy is a clear indication that a similar sordid event could happen in Nigeria where state officials are generally corrupt and as admitted by President Goodluck Jonathan that security forces have been heavily infiltrated by fundamentalists. The group said the task of protecting foreign missions should never be left for the missions alone saying that global peace face a pre-historic peril if embassies could be bombarded and rocked with bullets and nothing was done by the host country until human lives were crushed by a heavily armed mob
