The International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) has sent an SOS to Pope Francis, seeking his “urgent aid of Christian populations in Nigeria particularly those in northern Nigeria, who are in a verge of extermination or annihilation.”

In the letter to dated July 18^th 2014, Intersociety prayed specifically prayed the Catholic Pontiff “to use his wide international reach to bring the attention of the international community particularly the UN and its criminal justice and humanitarian agencies to the suffering populations in Nigeria particularly Christians of the North.”

The group in the letter signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi and Oguejiofor Ogochukwu, Esq., observed that judging from the roles of the UN and its agencies in the Syrian conflict, its involvement in Nigerian violence is very skeletal and, as such, it should be made to be proactively involved.

According to the group, “Till date, over 200 young post primary school girls quartered in Chibok area of Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, who are mostly Christians, are still held in captivity under grossly inhuman conditions. We had in the said letter to the Holy Father reasoned that should Nigerian violence explode uncontrollably into full ethno-religious war, the UN and its agencies as well as AU and ECOWAS will not contain and control the number of refugees and internally displaced persons arising from the war as well as other humanitarian crises. This is because Nigeria (170m) is roughly eight times more populated than Syria (23m).”

In the circumstances, “The Holy Father is also prayed to use his wide and respected international influence to get military and modern anti terror war strategists from Europe, ASEAN, Japan, Israel and North America to assist the State of Nigeria in demystifying the Boko Haram terror organization and contain its unending onslaughts against innocent Christian populations in Nigeria. We also beg the Holy Father to join in the international campaigns for the involvement of the International Criminal Court or the setting up of the UN’s Special Criminal Court for Nigeria on Ethno-Religious Killings or Boko Haram Killings. Nigeria as a State-Party to the ICC Statute of 1998, which it ratified in September 2001, can be internationally pressured to invite the ICC Chief Prosecutor. The jurisdictional competence of the ICC came into effect on 1^st July 2002. Where Nigeria remains dangerously adamant, the UN Security Council can be gotten to invoke its powers of ‘referral’ under Article Seven of its Charter directing the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC to intervene immediately.”

Intersociety enjoined Pope Francis and the respected Christian leaders and bodies in the country to rise up and join in these local and international campaigns. “Let the message begin and let it go round without ceasing until Islamic Boko Haram and Fulani violence is overcome; killing of Christians stopped; burning or destruction of churches discontinued; and those behind them brought to international criminal justice,” it said.

•Photo shows Pope Francis.

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