TO ADVANCE THEIR TORTURE VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT LAWSUIT
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ON
BEHALF OF TEN IGO PLAINTIFFS AGAINST SIXTEEN NIGERIAN
DEFENDANTS
INCLUDING GOVERNORS OBIANO OF ANAMBRA STATE AND IKPEAZU OF ABIA
STATE FOR COMPLICITY IN TORTURE AND EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS UNDER
COLOR OF NIGERIAN LAW MOTIVATED BY THE IBO ETHNICITY, CHRISTIAN
FAITH, AND POLITICAL VIEWPOINT OF THE VICTIMS
The law firm of Fein & DelValle PLLC travelled to Enugu,
Nigeria—the heart of Igboland—from August 19-August 24, 2017. Our
visit was to meet with our plaintiffs-clients, to gather facts and
to conduct research to advance the Torture Victims Protection Act
(TVPA) lawsuit we have filed in the United States District Court
for the District of Columbia on behalf of ten (10) anonymous
plaintiffs against sixteen (16) individual defendants for
extrajudicial killings and torture perpetrated under color of
Nigerian law motived by the Igbo ethnicity, Christian faith, and
political viewpoints of the victims. The case is styled John Doe,
et al v. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, et al, Civil Action No.
1:17-cv-0133.
Plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages to
secure justice for the Igbo people, to give them hope for the
future, and to deter genocide, ethnic cleansing or the
extermination of Christians in Nigeria by radical Islamic
Hausa-Fulani terrorists in Northern Nigeria. We are convinced that
Nigeria is the most dangerous country in the world for Christians.
They routinely defile the sanctity of churches by killing children
hiding their tiny bodies in pews. In violation of Nigeria’s
professed secular constitution, Nigeria has joined the Organization
of Islamic Countries and twelve northern states have adopted sharia
law. The Christian Open Door Report of 2015 found that Boko Haram,
the northeast Islamic terrorist organization, had killed 11,000
Christians, destroyed 13,000 churches and 1,500 Christian schools,
had created 2.6 million internally displaced persons, and forced
1.3 million Christians to flee.
On July 11, 2017 by the Fulani Youth Consultative Forum (ACYF)
issued an odious, chilling and genocidal threat to plunder the
properties and evict by force and violence eleven (11) million
Igbos peacefully residing in Northern Nigeria if they do not vacate
the region by October 1, 2017. The Government of Nigeria and
nineteen northern States have tacitly endorsed the ACYF threatened
genocide of twice the number who was exterminated by the Nazis in
the Holocaust! The federal and state governments in northern
Nigeria have refused to arrest even a single ACYF member. But
today, the ACYF threat was withdrawn—perhaps because frightened by
the prospect of TVPA suits against their members. Whether the
withdrawal was bogus or genuine remains to be seen.
In our Buratai suit, the District Court issued an order granting
the plaintiffs’ motion to proceed anonymously because they
reasonably feared lethal retaliation against themselves or families
if their identities were known.
The actions of the defendants were crimes against humanity that
can be prosecuted in any jurisdiction in the world. Indeed, the
Convention Against Torture mandates that signatory nations like the
United States and Nigeria prosecute the crimes of torture or
extrajudicial killings.
Fourteen of the individual defendants are federal officials and
two are state governors in the Southeast. One of the two,
Governors, Willie Obiano of Anambra State, has already apologized
for the brutal killings of plaintiffs that he admits were
perpetrated under his aegis. The other defendant Governor is Dr.
Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.
The defendants have yet to answer. Several are in default for
failure to respond within 21 days of the service of the summons and
Complaint. We are optimistic about our chances of victory at trial
or earlier. Defendants are represented by a small Nigerian law firm
in California thousands of miles from the venue of the litigation
in the District of Columbia. They represent they have been
contacted by the Government of Nigeria, not by the individual
defendants.
We salute the courage of our ten anonymous plaintiffs and their
brave supporters throughout Igboland. We are unified in our
insistence on obtaining justice for the Igbo people through
peaceful and lawful means that disavow the lawless savagery of
their persecutors. They should tremble when they reflect that God
is just, and that his justice will not sleep forever.
SOURCE Fein & DelValle PLLC
TO ADVANCE THEIR TORTURE VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT LAWSUIT
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ON
BEHALF OF TEN IGO PLAINTIFFS AGAINST SIXTEEN NIGERIAN
DEFENDANTS
INCLUDING GOVERNORS OBIANO OF ANAMBRA STATE AND IKPEAZU OF ABIA
STATE FOR COMPLICITY IN TORTURE AND EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS UNDER
COLOR OF NIGERIAN LAW MOTIVATED BY THE IBO ETHNICITY, CHRISTIAN
FAITH, AND POLITICAL VIEWPOINT OF THE VICTIMS
The law firm of Fein & DelValle PLLC travelled to Enugu,
Nigeria—the heart of Igboland—from August 19-August 24, 2017. Our
visit was to meet with our plaintiffs-clients, to gather facts and
to conduct research to advance the Torture Victims Protection Act
(TVPA) lawsuit we have filed in the United States District Court
for the District of Columbia on behalf of ten (10) anonymous
plaintiffs against sixteen (16) individual defendants for
extrajudicial killings and torture perpetrated under color of
Nigerian law motived by the Igbo ethnicity, Christian faith, and
political viewpoints of the victims. The case is styled John Doe,
et al v. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, et al, Civil Action No.
1:17-cv-0133.
Plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages to
secure justice for the Igbo people, to give them hope for the
future, and to deter genocide, ethnic cleansing or the
extermination of Christians in Nigeria by radical Islamic
Hausa-Fulani terrorists in Northern Nigeria. We are convinced that
Nigeria is the most dangerous country in the world for Christians.
They routinely defile the sanctity of churches by killing children
hiding their tiny bodies in pews. In violation of Nigeria’s
professed secular constitution, Nigeria has joined the Organization
of Islamic Countries and twelve northern states have adopted sharia
law. The Christian Open Door Report of 2015 found that Boko Haram,
the northeast Islamic terrorist organization, had killed 11,000
Christians, destroyed 13,000 churches and 1,500 Christian schools,
had created 2.6 million internally displaced persons, and forced
1.3 million Christians to flee.
On July 11, 2017 by the Fulani Youth Consultative Forum (ACYF)
issued an odious, chilling and genocidal threat to plunder the
properties and evict by force and violence eleven (11) million
Igbos peacefully residing in Northern Nigeria if they do not vacate
the region by October 1, 2017. The Government of Nigeria and
nineteen northern States have tacitly endorsed the ACYF threatened
genocide of twice the number who was exterminated by the Nazis in
the Holocaust! The federal and state governments in northern
Nigeria have refused to arrest even a single ACYF member. But
today, the ACYF threat was withdrawn—perhaps because frightened by
the prospect of TVPA suits against their members. Whether the
withdrawal was bogus or genuine remains to be seen.
In our Buratai suit, the District Court issued an order granting
the plaintiffs’ motion to proceed anonymously because they
reasonably feared lethal retaliation against themselves or families
if their identities were known.
The actions of the defendants were crimes against humanity that
can be prosecuted in any jurisdiction in the world. Indeed, the
Convention Against Torture mandates that signatory nations like the
United States and Nigeria prosecute the crimes of torture or
extrajudicial killings.
Fourteen of the individual defendants are federal officials and
two are state governors in the Southeast. One of the two,
Governors, Willie Obiano of Anambra State, has already apologized
for the brutal killings of plaintiffs that he admits were
perpetrated under his aegis. The other defendant Governor is Dr.
Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.
The defendants have yet to answer. Several are in default for
failure to respond within 21 days of the service of the summons and
Complaint. We are optimistic about our chances of victory at trial
or earlier. Defendants are represented by a small Nigerian law firm
in California thousands of miles from the venue of the litigation
in the District of Columbia. They represent they have been
contacted by the Government of Nigeria, not by the individual
defendants.
We salute the courage of our ten anonymous plaintiffs and their
brave supporters throughout Igboland. We are unified in our
insistence on obtaining justice for the Igbo people through
peaceful and lawful means that disavow the lawless savagery of
their persecutors. They should tremble when they reflect that God
is just, and that his justice will not sleep forever.
SOURCE Fein & DelValle PLLC