International Politics and Security Challenges in Africa: Interrogating the Non-Applicability of “The Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) to the Nigerian Situation

Essien U. U. Ukpe

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Abstract

This study examined the doctrine of The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) adopted in 2001 at the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) which urges every state to protect the lives and properties of their people, and where a state is clearly either unwilling or unable to fulfill its responsibility to protect or is itself the actual perpetrator of crimes or atrocities, the wider international community, through the United Nations, should activate the residual responsibility and intervene in such a country to avoid a reoccurrence of the genocide situation in Rwanda and the devastation in Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Bosnia. Through a historical/descriptive approach, the study revealed that the indigenous peoples of Nigeria have been facing threats of genocide, yet the United Nations have not invoked the R2P doctrine to stop it. Using national interest as a framework, the study reveals that the superpowers have bastardized the applicability of the concept of The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to only situations that suit their interests. The only time R2P succeeded in Libya was because Russia abstained from voting in the case. It was recommended that Civil Society should prevail on the Nigerian government to fulfill its obligation in R2P, also, the UN should invoke the R2Pdoctrine and intervene in Nigeria, local peace commissions should be established to mediate inter-communal tensions and build early warning systems in high-risk regions and that Nigerian citizens should also organize indigenous security outfits like the Amotekun and Ekpe Agwo to resist the systematic extermination of their nationalities in the country by terrorists.

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