Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) has tasked South East governors, especially governors Hope Uzodimma of Imo State and Charles Soludo of Anambra State, to be up and doing, including rebuilding burnt police stations, as well as ensuring that adequate armed security personnel are drafted to secure areas abandoned by the Nigeria Police for fear of unknown gunmen.

HURIWA noted that the reality is that armed security forces only operate at the highways and within state capitals, thereby, letting a large swathes of these states to become isolated, thereby motivating all kinds of armed hoodlums, kidnappers, armed robbers and terrorists to continue attacking residents without meaningful interventions of security agencies. 

HURIWA expressed regrets that most localities in Imo State, especially around Umunna to Okigwe, as well as Orlu axis, have been abandoned after ‘unknown gunmen’ burnt their police stations. According to the rights group, the Uzodimma administration has failed to reconstruct and rebuild the burnt police stations, which has left those communities vulnerable to criminal and terrorist activities, thereby affecting economic, social, cultural and religious activities during this yuletide season in the state.

In Anambra, residents fear that armed cultists wouldn’t let them enjoy their freedom of movement, and are denying people of their right to human dignity, as well as right to life. 

The rights group recalled, with sadness, that, on Monday, a gang of kidnappers abducted Chicago Nwankwo, a native of Ndiogbuonyeoma uno, around St. Philip’s area of Ndiaekeme, Arondizuogu. As at press time, his way about is yet unknown. There has been no call from his abductors, and no ransom has been demanded.