Terrorism studies: Nigerian soldier emerges best in UK varsity

Ajibade Atobatele, a major in the Nigerian army, has made the country proud.

He distinguished himself by finishing with a distinction in International human rights and terrorism law, coming top in his class at a University of Lancaster, United Kingdom,

The officer also bagged the best dissertation award of the faculty of arts and social sciences.

He was honoured at the convocation ceremony of the University, which was held in the UK. Attesting further to Atobatele’s brilliant academic performance, the Director of Postgraduate Programmes in the Lancaster University Law School, Sigrun Skogly, confirmed, in a letter written to the Nigerian Embassy in London, that the officer performed exceptionally well and achieved the highest mark of his cohort – a mark she described as rarely awarded by the university.

The school further confirmed that Atobatele had been offered a doctoral degree admission in order to further his research on legal issues surrounding the war against insurgency in Nigeria.

Buoyed by Atobatele’s brilliant and excellent performance in its LLM course in international human rights and terrorism law, the university has also immediately offered him a place in its Doctor of Philosophy programme for the 2019 academic session.

Olayinka Folarin, general secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, expressed confidence that allowing military officers to go for such courses in human rights and returning to apply the knowledge acquired, regarding the observance of the rules of engagement, would ultimately help to regulate the conduct of troops during operations.

Folarin added that the efforts by the army to improve respect for human rights of persons during their operations would also result in raising the rating of the country’s human rights record in the global arena.

The CDHR general secretary said, “I believe it will regulate their conduct as far as human rights is concerned in the fight against terrorism. It is a welcome development. It will enhance their performance; it will enhance their conduct. We just believe that by having their men studying such courses and coming back to apply it, it would go a long way in building confidence in the Nigerian military because everyone should be accorded his or her human rights. We must know that human right is the cornerstone of any professional practice.

“We just hope that the Nigerian military will see reason why they should be humane in their conduct and also take time to listen accordingly to the voice of the people. And the mentality that they are trained to kill can easily be addressed when the respect for human rights is there. When they are acquainted with what human rights entail and when they also understand that Nigeria is also party to several international treaties on human and people’s rights; it will assist them in their performance, in their operations. It will make them to be more professional and it will put our country in tune with the rest of the
world.”

Speaking in the same vein, a defence analyst and strategist, Adesola Olatunji, said allowing military officers to undergo such courses would go a long way in checking the alleged violation of human rights of citizens by military personnel involved in combating terrorism and insurgency across the country.

The military expert added that the development would also improve the poor rating of the human rights record of both the military and the Nigerian nation by international human rights
bodies.

“This development has brought to the fore, the commitment of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the vision of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, in having a professionally responsive Army discharging its constitutional role in strict compliance with the various international conventions on human rights, especially in its war against terrorism,” he said.