Olusegun ARIYO
Former presidential spokesman and veteran journalist, Reuben Abati, has defended Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde’s call for a United Nations investigation into the alleged kidnapping incident in Orire, saying similar international interventions had occurred in Nigeria in the past.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Wednesday, Abati dismissed claims that the UN had no role in such matters, citing previous cases involving the Chibok and Kankara school abductions.
His comments came amid the controversy surrounding Governor Makinde’s call for the United Nations to investigate the Orire kidnapping saga in Oyo State.
According to him, following the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women set up a committee to examine the incident.
He added that the UN Committee on Human Rights also looked into the Kankara school abduction, stressing that such interventions reflect the international community’s concern for humanitarian issues.
Abati, however, said criticism usually arises only when domestic political disagreements are taken to the international stage.
Drawing parallels with the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Abati recalled that prominent figures in the then-opposition strongly criticised the government over insecurity.
He said the former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed, who was then the spokesperson of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, had called for Jonathan to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court over the handling of the Baga killings.
Abati also claimed that President Bola Tinubu, then governor of Lagos State, publicly declared that the Jonathan administration had failed in addressing the country’s security challenges.
He argued that those now criticising Makinde’s position had taken similar stances while in opposition.
Abati said: “It’s not true that the United Nations has never been involved in a situation like this. When Chibok happened, I was in government at the time.
“The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, CIDA, at the United Nations, set up a committee to look into this.
“When Kankara, I think there was a place called Kankara, you know, where there was an incident of over 200 pupils being abducted, the UN Committee on Human Rights also set up a committee to look into the matter, which is a reminder that we’re part of a common humanity.
“The UN has its own purposes. When somebody exports Nigerian politics and differences abroad, that’s when we say there is politicisation.
“Now, let me remind everyone that when Baga happened, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, writing for the ACN then, which was a party of the present president, gave me hell at the time.
“In fact, Lai Mohammed wrote specifically that President Goodluck Jonathan should be apprehended by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. President Tinubu, governor as he then was, also came out and said that the Jonathan government had failed.
“So, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. When they were outside the presidency, they said the same thing.
“But what we’re saying is that human lives are more important than the petty politics or the presidential ambition of political gladiators.”
