HURIWA tasks South East governors to work together to end killings

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, tasked South East governors to join forces to find the right strategy to end killings, as well as increasing security challenges in the zone.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, said the military and police should stop attacking and killing civilians under the pretext of chasing unknown gunmen, noting that there has to be alternative ways to military force such as a negotiated settlement.

The group also condemned recent attacks on police and military formations in Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi.

The rights group believes that the uncontrolled reign of bloodshed and violence has no value to the Igbo, but has contributed to making the South East, which used to be peaceful and peaceable, a danger zone, thereby, crippling economic activities for the people of region.

HURIWA noted that it was saddened that these organised killings have gone on for far too long while governors of the region, as well as other elected political office holders, especially members of the National Assembly, are disconnected from realities of the crude, primitive and violent experiences that millions of Igbo residents in the region are going through.

Onwubiko stressed that, of late, attacks on police and military posts in South East have increased. For instance, gunmen killed a Deputy Superintendent of Police and an Inspector attached to Umuna Divisional Police Headquarters in Onuimo Council of Imo.

He further pointed out that a party youth leader in Enugu, Lucky Idoko, was also murdered.

Onwubiko said: “The unending killing and kidnapping in Nigeria is worrisome. The resurgence of attacks on police and army operatives in the South East exposes lack of the right kind of strategy by governors of the region, which could serve as solution to these killings.

The decision of some South East governors to adopt just kinetic methodology, which lacks accuracy, has not succeeded in reducing the tempo of attacks, but, instead, there are more and more killings, because those using the military methodology of physically eliminating perceived threats have not succeeded in pinning down their counter attacks on those responsible for the killings in the region.