By Daily Post Staff The idea behind the formation by members of the human society of a body of governors in their distinctive societ...
By Daily Post Staff
The idea behind the formation by members of the human
society of a body of governors in their distinctive societies is so that the
rights, privileges and entitlements that naturally belong to the citizens are
safeguarded and thereby preventing the operationalization of the chaotic
ideology of might is right.
In all recorded history and with specific reference to how
the ancient Greeks set up to institutionalize what they termed democracy, the
welfare and wellbeing of every member is at the core and heart of the formation
of this governmental platform for the promotion of the public good of the
people.
Abraham Lincoln, one of the earliest presidents of modern
day United States of America, was behind the contextual definition of democracy
to mean government of the people, by the people and for the people.
Right form 1948 when the specific rights that naturally
belongs to each and every one of the member of the human race were codified
into the universal declarations of human rights, most nations have had to also
domesticate these distinctive rights including the right to life.
Nigeria is in no way an exception. This is so because at
independence from British rule in1960, Nigeria took less than a year to be
enlisted as a member of the United Nations and by this membership, Nigeria is a
signatory to the universal declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Nigeria also
subscribe to the African Human and Peoples Rights which basically is a
miniature of the UDHR. Nigeria also has domesticated many UN treaties, conventions
and Humanitarian laws.
Nigeria also operates a Grund Norm which dedicates a whole
chapter to the fundamental rights of everyone including section 33 (1) of
chapter 4 that prohibits absolutely, the use of extralegal killing by
government as a tool of governance. The Constitution unambiguously confers this
fundamental right to life and stated that unless there is a final determination
of the courts of competent jurisdictions, on no account should life of a
citizen be terminated on the whims or caprices of political office holders.
However, this sacred mandate encapsulated in chapter 4 of
the Nigerian Constitution and especially the imperative safeguarding the right
to life is being flagrantly violated by Mr. Hope Uzodinma who was made Imo
State governor by the supreme court of Nigeria in Abuja in 2019. Imo under his
administration has become the graveyards for Igbo youths. I don’t want to
believe that Mr. Hope Uzodinma who is a very progressive member of my Roman
Catholic Church is the same whose government is committing unmitigated
atrocities and crimes against humanity. This horrendous executions of Igbo
youths under his watch will inevitably not go unpunished. The sad thing is that
the frequency of the public execution of Imo State’s youths by members of
Northern dominated armed forces of Nigeria has become frightening.
The dimension of these violations of these sacred human
rights has reached a very frightening height with the Sunday’s event that is
now described as the genocide of the wedding guests in Orlu senatorial zone and
Awomama specifically.
Tried as they are doing to sway public opinion, both the
Department of State Services or what is lawfully known as SSS and the Imo State
governor Hope Uzodinma, are swimming against the tides of transparency,
accountability and honesty on what truly transpired.
The eyewitnesses from the scene of the incident have clearly
accused the Imo State government of deploying the Ebubeagu security network
that undertook the execution style killing of score of wedding guests. Against
the backdrops of these groundswell of accusation of extra judicial killings,
the DSS and the governor Uzodinma are singing different tunes and are
attempting to obfuscate the facts of what transpired which is said to be a
straight forward public illegal execution of young Igbo youths who were
returning from a wedding.
How governor Uzodinma and the DSS think they can fold
peoples’ eyes to go with their tales by moonlight on this genocide in Awomama,
is indeed one of the surprises of the world in this 21st century. The Nigerian
government through the relevant investigative bodies must unravel why Imo State
government authorized the public execution of Imo State citizens on very
nebulous gound.
Dissatisfied with what it calls tales by moonlight issued by
both Imo State governor Mr. Hope Uzodinma and the Department of state service
(DSS) in Imo State on the alleged killings of scores of wedding guests by
Ebubeagu, the National Assembly’s public petitions committee has been tasked to
investigate the alleged massacre on their own for the interest of public good.
We are hereby asking the committees on the public petitions
of both chambers of the National Assembly to suo moto initiate open,
transparent and publicized independent investigation into the alleged killings
by ebubeagu of over one dozen wedding guests in Awo-omama, Imo State, South
East of Nigeria The Senator representing the people should also act swiftly to
stop the massacre from being swept under the carpets.
HURIWA said it is totally obscene and unconstitutional and
indeed unconscionable that the Imo State governor and the DSS are both
narrating a different version of the killings which the villagers have alleged
were killings done in public execution style by the Ebubeagu but both the
governor and the DSS claimed that those killed by members of Eastern Security
network. Going by the deep gulf between all the claims about the killings, the
need has therefore arisen for the lawmakers in Abuja to act to safeguard human
right.
The prominent civil Rights body said it is shocking that
days after the alleged wedding guests were allegedly murdered, the DSS is
reported to have made a claim that those killed died during exchange of fire
which is contrary to the claims made by the villagers who raised the alarm in
the first place. The Rights group said it is now imperative that the nation is
informed of what truly took place just as HURIWA said that Nigeria is the only
Country in the World whereby armed security operatives kill citizens at will
and may brand the victims as bandits or just conjure up any story and there is
no independent agency funded by tax payers to forensically ascertain if the
killing was justifiable. HURIWA said that in most civilised societies the
National Assembly provides such a safeguard but wonders why many incidents of
suspected extramural executions of citizens by secure forces are happening and
there is no reassuring institutional methods of accountability.
HURIWA recalled that the Department of State Services (DSS)
has made claims on the seven persons in Imo State, who were alleged to be
wedding guests. In what it termed its clarification yesterday in Owerri, the
Imo State capital, on what has been classified as “Awomama Killings”, the DSS
said the victims were alleged members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
The DSS insisted that the victims killed on Sunday were members of ESN and not
guests coming from a wedding ceremony as against earlier reports.The agency
made this known in a statement made available to newsmen when it paraded the
suspect at the command in Owerri. The DSS said the victims fell during a fierce
gun battle between a joint security team and the proscribed Indigenous People
of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network last Sunday.
HURIWA dismissed the claims of the Imo State Governor and
the DSS as unsatisfactory and one sided and said it will on its own be sending
a petition soon to the National Assembly if the public petitions’ committees
wouldn’t on their own initiate a probe into this allegation of massacre of
civilians, Imo citizens that has already circulated globally.
In a statement, HURIWA’S National Coordinator Comrade
Emmanuel Onwubiko said since Nigeria is a constitutional democracy and not the
banana republic that both the Imo State governor and the DSS’S accounts of the
incident have made the Country to be, there is the need for the National
Assembly to step in immediately and transparently collate claims abd counter
claims on the incident and then reach a determination that will be
satisfactory.
“Assuming without conceding that those killed were not
wedding guests as claimed by Hope Uzodima why should Ebubeagu fire their
bullets to kill persons riding on motorcycles?What is lawful would have been
for Imo State government to investigate the killing but sadly the governor even
took sides before ascertaining what really happened. This is so cruel,
inhumane, wicked, irrational and insensitive that the governor can dismiss the
alleged mass shooting of Imo citizens on the excuse that they were ‘bandits’
even before any sort of forensic probe is instituted”.
HURIWA quoting several media channels, stated that there was
considerable trepidation, unprecedented anger in Imo State on Monday after news
filtered in that gunmen suspected to be operatives of Ebubeagu Security outfit
allegedly killed 7 wedding guests in Awomama, Oru West Local Government Area of
the state.
HURIWA gathered that the incident happened on Sunday while
the victims were returning to their village in Otulu in Oru East LGA before the
gunmen opened fire on them just as the President General of Otulu community,
Nnamdi Agbor, told newsmen that seven persons died on the spot while others
were missing. The community leader confirmed that the victims were on their way
home when the gunmen opened fire on them.
HURIWA said the Community leader said thus: “As they were
going home Ebubeagu operatives saw them in motorcycles and opened fire on them.
As I speak to you, we have recovered seven dead bodies who are our people.“The
monarch said that five are missing, while two are critically injured.” He said
that the Commissioner of Police and the commander of the 34 artillery Brigade
Command Obinze have visited the area. The Police Public Relations Officer, CSP
Mike Abattam, confirmed the incident.
However, HURIWA expressed shock and consternation that
rather than order a transparent and an independent judicial investigation of
the alleged mass killings, the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma said that
government will not be deterred by propaganda and blackmail in her quest to
protect the lives and property of Imo citizens.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri reacted in a statement
titled aptly: “THE BLOOD OF ABEL CRIES TO HIGH HEAVENS A PUBLIC STATEMENT ON THE
AWOMAMA KILLINGS ISsUED BY MOST REV. LUCIUS IWEJURU UGORJI, METROPOLITAN
ARCHBISHOP OF OWERRI, ON 22 JULY 2022”.
His Grace wrote thus: “The gruesome murder of some youths at
Awomama in Imo State a few days ago has caused public outrage. Since this incident,
there have been various narratives about who carried out this dastardly and
abominable act, and why. While some members of the public blame government and
her security outfit EbubeAgu for murdering unarmed and defenceless young men
coming back from a wedding, the DSS Director, on the other hand, confirmed that
his men carried out an operation in a camp, where those he described as
“bandits were killed, as a means of ensuring public security.
Our aim is not to delve into this web of contradictory narratives,
but to unequivocally condemn this mindless blood-letting, and similar senseless
killings, which have bedevilled lgbo society, especially Imo State in recent
times. Our soil has been defiled by the abominable shedding of innocent blood.
We are becoming a society that has no regard for the sanctity of human life and
are ready to waste human life at the least provocation. How many of our youths
have been cut down in their prime?
No society can flourish or survive when her future leaders
and productive sector of the population are mercilessly mowed down for mere
suspicion. Like Abel’s blood (Gen 4:10), the blood of many slaughtered youths
in our land is erying to high heaven. Similarly, like the lamentations of
Rachel at Ramah (Gen 30:1), the lamentations of mothers, who have lost their
beloved ones at Awomama, are inconsolable.
Law and Order are not synonymous with jungle justice. While
no one should condone any form of banditry or lawlessness from any quarters,
yet jungle justice and extra judicial killings cannot be a solution to the
challenges of law and order. Let us reiterate here that we condemn all killings
from all quarters, whether private or public, whether by overzealous,
trigger-happy security men or by paramilitary or cults groups. As moral agents,
no one should clearly aim at taking away human life no matter the
circumstances.
The Awomama massacre should not be swept under the carpet.
That slaughter, no matter the reasons is barbaric, offensive, and totally
unacceptable. Enough is enough! We, therefore, call on government to undertake
a thorough and transparent investigation in order to unearth the perpetrators
of the heinous crime and bring them to book. For public accountability in this
matter is the only way to assuage public anger on the merciless killing and
stop dangerous rumours.
May God grant eternal life to the deceased and consolation
to the bereaved!”
Need we say more? Certainly this case won’t go unpunished.
EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and was NATIONAL COMMISSIONER of the NATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.
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