NIGERIA (Kaduna) –The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has threatened to sue the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lieut-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, at the International Court of Justice in Hague for alleged killing of defenceless civilians in Bama and Giwa, Borno State by soldiers of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

According to the spokesperson of the forum, Prof. Ango Abdulahi, the decision was arrived at by the group based on evidence of two committees of legal and security experts it set up to “investigate the details of the gruesome use of force against unarmed civilians in Bama and other parts of Borno State.”

He said: “At our meeting in Kaduna on the 15th January, 2014, we received the reports of the two committees on Security and Legal Matters, regarding extra-judicial killings by soldiers in Bama and the act of strangulating civilians in Giwa Barracks using an underground detention centre, while depositing the corpses in hospital.

“The Forum has therefore resolved to harmonise the reports of the two committees, preparatory to filing a case of extra-judicial killings by the Nigerian Army under the then Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika and six others. The reports will be harmonised at our emergency meeting in Abuja on Wednesday the 22nd of January 2014 for further action”.

It would be recalled that on Tuesday May, 7, 2013, that suspected members of Boko Haram unleashed terror on residents, killing many innocent citizens, including 13 officers of the Nigeria Prisons Service during a raid on the Bama prisons by the terrorists.

At that time, the army authorities said that the terrorists who carried out the attack wore military fatigue and were armed with high calibre arms and ammunition.

Twenty-one of the invaders were said to have been killed by soldiers and many others were arrested. Recovered from them were four vehicles, 14 weapons, 12 IEDS, assorted ammunition, several RPG tubes and bombs.

The army lost two of its personnel while six policemen, four civilians, including three children and a woman also died.