Govs label attackers of Uzodimma’s home enemies of Nigeria, urge arrest

•HURIWA seeks probe of attack on Imo community, youths deplore invasion
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), yesterday, stated that those who razed their Imo colleague, Hope Uzodimma’s ancestral home at Omuma, Oru East Local Council of the state constituted a small league of persons trying to harm the corporate existence of the country.

In a statement by its Chairman and Ekiti State helmsman, Kayode Fayemi, the body said all hands must be on deck to fish out the perpetrators, lamenting that criminality had been taken to reckless and irresponsible heights.

The governors reminded the attackers that they do not have the monopoly of violence, urging citizens to cooperate with the nation’s security forces and government in building a civil, safe and secure environment for all.

IN a related development, the Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) called for transparent investigation by a judicial commission of inquiry into the “reported invasion of Awo-Omama community in Oru East Local Council of Imo and activities of the combined security forces which led to the killing of an alleged South East commander of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), six-armed militias and arrest of several others during a deadly encounter in the state.”

The rights group said the danger of believing the single narrative packaged by the Nigerian Army on the circumstances of the combined operation in Imo State in which six members of IPOB were killed and some armed security personnel got wounded or slain without investigating the incident,  “is that impunity will be unleashed if the security forces can just attack and kill some persons and then frame up some tales by moonlight and then the media will circulate the one-sided propaganda as if it’s a scriptural fact.”

In a statement by the National Coordinator and Media Affairs Director, Emmanuel Onwubiko and Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said in saner climes, there were independent bodies that monitor the military and police to check their misuse by politically exposed and influential persons, including the President.

It cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against sole deployment of armed security forces to attack alleged adversaries that share no ethno-religious affiliations with him.

ALSO, the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) condemned the weekend’s attack on the governor’s residence that saw vehicles set ablaze and three security operatives killed.

In a statement by its President General and Secretary General, Goodluck Ibem and Kanice Igwe, COSEYL described the dastardly act as wicked and barbaric.