Amnesty International Public Statement
Amnesty International Nigeria takes all issues raised by potential whistleblowers extremely seriously. Three internal investigations have been conducted into separate allegations raised by Damian Ugwu – two of these were carried out by the International Secretariat and were fully independent of Amnesty Nigeria staff. The third was addressed by a panel constituted by the AI Nigeria Board. All investigations unanimously concluded that the issues raised were entirely unfounded.
Amnesty International Nigeria seeks to hold governments to account and our work in Nigeria documenting and exposing abuses by the military and security forces has continued unabated. In November last year, we released a hard-hitting report shining a spotlight on police failings amid a rape pandemic in the country. Last October we launched a major campaign to protest police brutality in relation to the #EndSARS protests. We also continued to provide evidence and lobby the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into crimes under international law committed by the Nigerian military in the country’s beleaguered northeast.
This is in addition to dozens of press releases and briefings documenting ongoing violations by Nigeria’s military and security forces. For more details see our website. Before his contract termination from Amnesty Nigeria, Mr. Ugwu was given the opportunity to air concerns and had access to Amnesty’s independent internal mechanism for resolving matters overseen by the Amnesty Nigeria Board. All steps taken by the organization were done in full consultation with expert independent legal counsel and opinion.