by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) -The Nigerian government executed six Christian soldiers on trumped-up charges in Abuja last month, a civil rights lawyer has told the Christian Post. According to Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chair of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, the soldiers were framed for a crime committed by one of their superiors.
Speaking to the Christian Post, Umeagbalasi said the soldiers were killed on January 25 because they were both Igbo and Christian. “The government of today detests Christianity and detests the Igbo tribe,” Umeagbalas said. “You receive serious discrimination against Igbo officers. It’s terrible. This administration is running on ethnic agenda against the Igbo population.” According to Umeagbalasi, the soldiers were tried before a kangaroo court in secret and without access to defense counsel. They were also denied their right of appeal.
A group of 28 organizations, including Intersociety, the World Igbo Congress, Concerned Elites for Better Society Initiative, and Biafra Genocide Survivors Group have sent a letter to the Nigerian government demanding answers about the deaths. The names of the soldiers killed are: Prince Ukwuoma, Ebube Isaiah, Amos Azubuike, Ekene Ebere, Moses Anyim and Godwin Uchendu, Umeagbalasi said.
The government has done little or nothing to stop the ongoing, years-long slaughter of Christians in Nigeria. Much of the slaughter has been conducted by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram and by Muslim Fulani militia and herdsmen. Now, Umeagbalas notes, the military is getting involved.
“Nigeria is becoming like Somalia and Rwanda. That was exactly how it started, with the government taking sides and backing the members of a particular ethnic group. That’s the situation. Even in the security forces, Christians are being targeted,” Umeagbalasi said.