President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has accused Amnesty International (AI) of a deliberate plot to destabilise Nigeria.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made the accusation on Friday in Lagos on TV Continental.
He said AI had continued to engage in baseless allegations against the administration and the Nigerian military.
Mohammed cited a recent report by AI on abuses of human rights during the End SARS protest at Lekki toll gate, Lagos, in October 2020.
AI wants former Service Chiefs arrested and prosecuted in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Buhari administration has challenged AI to prove its allegations.
“We challenge Amnesty International, if it has any proof, to please come forward with such names, addresses and convincing evidence that people were killed at the toll gate. A coterie of NGO, led by Al, has been dispensing fake news about what transpired at the toll gate.”
The minister said the most transparent way to prove that lives were lost was appearance before the Panel of Enquiry set up by the Lagos State Government.
He noted that more than 100 days after the incident, “we are yet to see anybody come out to say my son, my daughter or my ward went to the toll gate plaza to protest and has not come back.”
“Amnesty International has no respect for our judicial system. If they do, they would have gone to testify rather than churning out fake reports and arriving at baseless conclusions even before the panel has commenced its job.”
Mohammed accused the organisation of double standards in its assessment of human rights violations.
He said AI had two sets of laws – one for Nigeria and other developing countries and the other for developed nations.
The minister recalled that when United States authorities were searching for people that invaded Capitol Hill, AI was quiet despite the loss of lives.
