A civic advocacy group, the Concerned Defenders of National Consciousness and Integrity, has condemned what it described as a “reckless and malicious” comment by human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, over his comparison of a recent civil-military encounter in Gaduwa, Abuja, to the 2015 Zaria incident involving members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).
In a strongly worded statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, the group accused the Senior Advocate of Nigeria of making a “cynical and intellectually dishonest” analogy, which it said amounted to a dangerous trivialisation of a national tragedy.
According to the group, Falana’s remarks were “utterly preposterous” and amounted to pouring “petrol on the embers of past national tragedies” for political gain.
“To casually invoke the profound pain of Zaria as a flippant ‘what-if’ scenario in a dispute over a land allocation is the height of irresponsibility,” the statement read. “Mr. Falana’s comparison is malicious, wicked and divisive, and a disgrace to his person and esteemed position,” it added.
The group insisted that the attempts to link the recent Gaduwa incident to the deadly 2015 confrontation between IMN members and the Nigerian Army amounted to diminishing the gravity of the past event and disrespecting the memory of those who lost their lives.
“A Military General is a custodian of the state and a sworn protector of our sovereignty. To reduce this sacred responsibility to a crude analogy for a political squabble is an unforgivable display of ignorance regarding the principles of governance and statecraft,” it added.
The Concerned Defenders of National Consciousness and Integrity further alleged that Falana’s recent stance suggested a departure from the principled activism he was once known for, accusing him of becoming a “mercenary commentator” influenced by political interests.
The group said the lawyer “owes the Nigerian people, the Armed Forces, and the memory of all those affected by past conflicts a profound and unequivocal apology,” warning that failure to retract the comment would further damage his public standing.
