February, 25 2016, 01:45pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Email:,info(at)fwwatch(dot)org,Seth Gladstone -,sgladstone@fwwatch.org
Fearing Environmental Terrorism, Advocates Call on Nigerian Government to Help Return Abducted International Environmental Activist to Safety
Statement of Food & Water Watch International Policy Director Darcey O’Callaghan
WASHINGTON
"Following the kidnapping this week of Justina Ojo, wife of Godwin Uyi Ojo, an internationally-renowned environmental activist and executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Food & Water Watch is calling on Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari and Edo State governor Adams Oshiomhole to help return her safely and unconditionally to her family.
"The kidnapping, which occurred the evening of February 22 at gun-point outside Ojo's home in Benin City, Nigeria by unknown abductors, is consistent with cases of environmental terrorism. The ERA was founded by the legal counsel that defended activist Ken Saro Wiwa, and is no stranger to persecution. ERA staff has been targeted with violence and intimidation previously, and we fear that this attack may be politically motivated.
"We also call on the United States government to urge the government of Nigeria to immediately address this kidnapping. The Uyi Ojo family lives a modest lifestyle and has long been committed to public service and environmental sustainability. Both Justina and her husband are Nigerian citizens.
"Despite efforts by the Nigerian police, high profile abductions have been increasing. It is a great travesty that such violence could have the additional effect of deterring people from environmental justice work.
"Today we join Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy director of ERA/FoEN in urging the abductors to release Justina unharmed, and we encourage the international community to increase pressure on the Nigerian police to locate her. Justina and her family are in our thoughts as we look forward to her safe return."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
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CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said following the passage of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2025 (H.R. 5009) that "it should alarm every American taxpayer that we are nearing a trillion-dollar annual budget for an agency rampant with waste, fraud, and abuse."
Jayapal, who was one of 140 lawmakers to oppose the package, emphasized that the Pentagon has failed seven consecutive annual audits.
Despite being the only federal agency to never have passed a federal audit, said Jayapal, the Department of Defense "continues to receive huge boosts to funding every year. Our constituents deserve better."
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The vote is expected to take place early next week, and 60 votes are needed to begin debate on the package.
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Jayapal noted that the funding package includes substantive pay raises for service members and new investments in housing, healthcare, childcare, and other support for their families.
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The Constitution vests Congress, not the president, with the power to declare war (though presidents have used military force without getting the OK from Congress on multiple occasions in modern history, according to the National Constitution Center).
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Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, said in a statement that "these four attacks are emblematic of Israel's shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law."
The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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On October 16, Israel bombed the Nabatieh municipal complex, killing Mayor Ahmad Khalil and 10 other people.
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Survivor Jinane Hijazi told Amnesty: "I've lost everything; my entire family, my parents, my siblings, my daughter. I wish I had died that day too."
As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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Guevara Rosas said: "These attacks must be investigated as war crimes. The Lebanese government must urgently call for a special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism into the alleged violations and crimes committed by all parties in this conflict. It must also grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on Lebanese territory."
"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians."
Last month, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel's 433-day Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 162,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing in the embattled enclave.
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