The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has canvassed full investigation of Amnesty International (AI) report on killings by security forces in the South East region.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, made the call at a media briefing, yesterday, in Abuja. He urged the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, to tell the world what he did with hundreds of detainees he accused of causing disturbances in Imo State for which he named politicians as sponsors.
He said: “The Amnesty International’s report on killings by security forces in the South East with Imo occupying the top position is disconcerting.
“It is so disturbing that nearly one month has passed since Amnesty International compiled the stories of extra-judicial killings, but till date, neither the South East governors, nor Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed or Garba Shehu had reacted”.
“The Federal Government has not also ordered enforcement or implementation of administrative or prosecution actions to confront the police commissioners and officers indicted for their extra-legal executions.”
HURIWA charged the Federal Government and South East governors to respond to the Amnesty International report, which he described as “credible, truthful and tragically outrageous” and to take action to punish offenders in the security forces.
He threatened that the authorities either act on the report or be named in the litigations several local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were already initiating before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands.
“Like millions of Nigerians, who have no access to the media or mass communication, HURIWA is worried about the increasing lawlessness by operatives and officers of law enforcement agencies notably the Nigeria Police Force, the Directorate of State Services (DSS), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the military, especially their lawless tendencies in their line of duty,” he said.
He lamented that lawlessness and officers’ misconduct, as well as indiscipline remained the fundamental cause of the degeneration of officers’ efficiency in the Nigerian Armed Forces.
“Just like yesterday’s security breach in the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) by terrorists can be traced to indiscipline, armed non- state actors easily invaded the NDA.
“There is increasing use of Gestapo type operations by the EFCC, the DSS and the case of the Nigeria Police Force is that its services are now highly commercialised, meaning that those who could pay get armed police operatives to do their biddings, no matter how unlawful, dreadful, sinister and outrageous.
“The police operatives in some state commands, especially in Imo State are known for framing up citizens and for fragrant violations of civil rights.”
“They also use extra-judicial killings to eliminate suspected members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) or those whose rivals have procured the police to tag them as IPOB just to kill them,” he added.