Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has charged Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State and his colleagues in the Southeast states to stop beating around the bush on matters relating to insecurity.
HURIWA said the governors have constantly been adopting the same outdated and unworkable techniques in fighting terrorism, which is purely kinetic and lacks hard-core intelligence.
The group advised the governor to perish the infantile thought of believing that his so-called advanced technology approved by President Muhammadu Buhari could work magic in ending the crises of insecurity, terrorism and sundry banditry both by centripetal and centrifugal forces.
The rights group challenged the Imo State government and other South East governments to work on cultivating, incubating, maintaining and ensuring the existence of a sustainable top-quality human intelligence which would inevitably complement the advanced technology in crime fighting methodologies that would be effective and efficient.
HURIWA, through the national coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, asked the governor to abolish the Ebubeagu militia because they have become political executioners who aren’t altruistic and professional enough to battle terrorists.
The rights advocacy group also wonders how Uzodimma thinks stability, lasting security and development will take place in the South East of Nigeria when the president, who the likes of Uzodimma consults intermittently seeking additional fighting forces, has denied the zone social justice by holding on to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in clear disrespect to the pleas for mercy by respected elders of Igbo extraction.
HURIWA argued that the unjust detention of Kanu complicated and compounded the security situation in the zone, with many fringe groups launching massive violent attacks targeting strategic national security assets and members of the armed forces.
The group said it believes that deployment of advanced technology can only achieve minimal results as long as comprehensive measures are not implemented to bring about a lasting peace through the enforcement of policies that embody social justice, respect for the rule of law and respect for the fundamental freedoms of the people.
The rights group wants Uzodimma and other South East governors to ask President Buhari to free Kanu, and lift the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra since the group has not been found guilty of any terror-related attacks in any known judgment of any competent courts of law in Nigeria.
“Then secondly, the Governors should convoke broad-based dialogues and negotiations sessions with all groups irrespective of their ideological leanings with a view to convincing everyone to accept that violence, bloodshed, kidnappings, and sundry terrorism do not achieve any sustainable objectives.”
He carpeted Uzodimma for beating about the bush and for pursuing the same solution that had never worked since the past couple of years when violence became unprecedented in Imo State. He repeated that the deployment of advanced technology to tackle security challenges can’t work optimally as long as the governor of Imo State and others in the South East region fail to pursue non-kinetic strategy.
In his reaction, the commissioner for information and strategy, Hon. Declan Emelumba stressed that they are doing their best in checkmating criminality in the state. According to him, the government is prepared to accept any reasonable idea that would proffer solution to the insecurity in the state.
Emelumba urged the citizenry to feel free and provide information and advice on the way forward for a better society.
