HURIWA says murder of Inspector Oriodovwe, others portray Nigeria as failed state

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, condemned the murder of a serving policeman, Inspector Celestine Oriodovwe, and others in Enugu State.

National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, who made the condemnation at a press conference in Abuja, said: “We, in the organised civil rights advocacy community in Nigeria have consistently condemned any coordinated assault and organised massacre of men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force because of the significant signal it conveys around the world that Nigeria is a weak state and a sovereign nation that is failing.

“This is why it is in the self interest of President Muhammadu Buhari and different levels of government, including the hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force to work out and implement far-reaching strategies to minimise and possibly eliminate the phenomenon and, indeed, the epidemic of coordinated assassination of police operatives and the destruction of strategic national security assets of Nigeria.”

The group said it believed that solving the murder of Oriodovwe would ensure justice in the murder of Kelvin Ezeoha and the final year student of Business Administration of the Enugu State University of Technology, Mr. Chidera Ogaba, who were murdered at an All Progressives Congress (APC) reconciliation meeting in January this year.

“We are also sure it will provide insight and closure into the earlier murders of the trio of Nnaemeka Agbo, Nnamani Ikpa and Sunday Nnamani, who were presumably murdered by the de-facto leader of this syndicate and declared wanted by the Nigeria Police Force,” it said.

“We find it a very compelling tell that since 2015, up until date, neither the mastermind nor his murderous lieutenants have been brought to book. As a matter of fact, the audacity to not only kidnap and murder the inspector, but to take his vehicle to the scene of crime, where the inspector was investigating their criminal activities was to send a message to their victims that their gang was untouchable and that no one can help them as victims.”