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Leading Civil Rights Advocacy Group- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has expressed consternation at the governors of the South Eastern States for failing to take concrete, workable, and law-based actions to stem the tide of heightened levels of killings just as the Rights group has advocated the disbandment of the notorious Ebubeagu security network in Ebonyi and Imo State and their replacement with armed vigilante set up by the people for the people and not an armed gang of the governors.
HURIWA has also condemned the recent upsurge in the dastardly execution by unidentified armed nonstate actors of members of the Armed security forces doing their lawful duties in the South East of Nigeria just as the Rights group accused the armed security forces of lacking in actionable intelligence because of certain actions of some rogue operatives of the security agencies who have created a bad image of the armed forces as enemies of the people and therefore are cut off from receiving actionable human intelligence to aid the fight against the destruction of lives and property of the citizens and strategic national security assets.
“How come that both the police and the Army in Abuja and the police commands in the South East of Nigeria have constantly made outlandish claims of arresting armed non-state actors responsible for the heightened levels of killings in the South East but the more these media propaganda are circulated the more worst and much more sophisticated attacks occur and the more successful the armed attackers are becoming. This can only mean one thing- the armed security forces are actually not catching the right persons executing the attacks because if the real culprits are being arrested, then by now the armed forces would have reduced the levels of attacks and the culprits would have been successfully prosecuted for their crimes against humanity. Why is President Muhammadu Buhari not concerned about the widespread suspicion that the chief sponsor of some of the deadliest attacks stays somewhere in the Eastern European nation of Finland? Can’t President Muhammadu Buhari take diplomatic action to protect Igbos from being systematically killed by agents living in the South East allegedly armed by someone staying in Europe? If President Muhammadu Buhari hasn’t done so what have the governors of South East States done in the light of the allegations of involvement of a Nigerian withdrawal citizenship in Finland in the killings going on in South East of Nigeria?
HURIWA recalled that about five security operatives, including army and police officers, have been killed by gunmen along the Enugu/Abakaliki highway on Saturday just a source who confirmed the unfortunate incident recounted that the gunmen first attacked the military checkpoint at Idodo, Enugu State before proceeding to the border checkpoint where they killed three policemen.
HURIWA quoting media sources stated that the ragtag gunmen that operated with two Sienna buses reportedly opened fire at the Idodo military checkpoint killing two soldiers in the shootout that ensued even as the gunmen proceeded towards Ebonyi and again opened fire on the policemen on duty at the border checkpoint between Enugu and Ebonyi. Three policemen were killed on the spot while another policeman who was shot in the leg is said to be receiving treatment at a hospital in the Ebonyi State Capital.
HURIWA said the Ebonyi state police command has also confirmed the report stating thus:” Yesterday’s attack by unknown gunmen at Ebonyi/Enugu boundary took place at about 1808hrs.
“Three Police personnel of Operation Safer Highway were fatally injured. Later confirmed dead. Hoodlums operated in two sienna vehicles.”
HURIWA recalled that some police operatives including a Woman sergeant were killed in a similar format a few days back along the Owerri-Aba Highway just as the Rights expressed shock and disappointment that these attacks by unknown attackers have gone on for far too long but sadly, the armed security forces operating in the South East apparently not receiving any clear directives from their heads in Abuja have so far failed to synergize and unify their counter strategic measures on how to proactively stop the attackers in all of South East of Nigeria because virtually all of the attacks have happened following same pattern meaning that if the Armed security forces have quality intelligence gathering mechanisms then they should have been able to be some steps ahead of the violent attackers responsible for the killings of many operatives of the security agencies.
HURIWA is saddened that for virtually two years now, we have constantly proffered practicable panacea to the increasing state of insecurity and instability in the South-East of Nigeria but it is regrettable that the Governors are not in any way committed towards the eradication of the sources and sponsors of the insecurity in the SouthEast and are apparently misusing the Ebubeagu Security network in places like Imo and Ebonyi States to witch-hunt and physically harm members of the political opposition even as the Rights group has asked for the disbandment of this Ebubeagu security network in Ebonyi and Imo states because of their notoriety and involvement in the killings of hundreds of innocent people in the two states.
HURIWA cited the example of an All Progressives Grand Alliance supporter in Ebonyi State, Amobi Ujar, who was on Saturday allegedly beaten to a pulp by members of the state’s security outfit, Ebubeagu.
The Rights group quoting sources said the victim, Ujar, allegedly got a call from a supposed Ebubeagu informant and was lured to the Why Worry area of Amaehara Village, in the Afikpo North Local Government Area of the state where he was allegedly beaten to a coma by operatives of the outfit. It was further alleged that the operatives hung the campaign banner of Governor David Umahi on his neck and coerced him to make a ‘confessional statement’ against himself and his party, APGA.
HURIWA also recalled with consternation the alleged involvement of Ebubeagu Vigilantes in the murder of over a dozen youths in Orlu last year who were reportedly returning from a traditional wedding just as the State Government confirmed that the Department of State Services and Ebubeagu were involved in an operation in which those youths were killed. Against overwhelming evidence from traditional and respected religious leaders that the victims were only returning from a traditional wedding, the Imo State government and the Department of State Services claimed that they were bandits. Sadly, this genocide in Orlu remains unresolved and counter-killings have escalated dangerously in parts of Imo State.”
HURIWA said: “It is clear that the South East governors got it wrong when some of them decided to float armed vigilantes but rather than allow those statutory vigilantes to work for the collective security interests of the people of their States, especially in Ebonyi and Imo States, these governors have hijacked the Ebubeagu Security network and are deploying them as killer squads to target political opponents for elimination”.
“In Ebonyi State alone the Ebubeagu has been fingered in over two dozen cases of suspected assassinations but yet the state government has not prosecuted any of these killers being paid by the government from taxpayers’ funds. The South East governors should ask their counterparts in the South West how come they successfully floated the Amotekun security network and there is hardly any case of harassment or attacks targeting the good people of those states in the South West. The SouthEast governors should set up people’s oriented armed vigilantes to work to protect the people of their States and not become public executioners of perceived political opponents of the governors. The governors need to stop acting like economic saboteurs who hate their region by immediately introducing regional-wide measures to preempt these attackers and go after the actual people carrying out the bloody killings and their sponsors wherever they may be in the World.”