Rights Groups to Monitor Army Operations in S’East
The Nigerian human rights community has taken a dim view of the ongoing security situation in the South-eastern part of the country, declaring its readiness to monitor the conduct.
The community also said the police, not the Nigerian Army, have the duty to maintain security anywhere in the country.
The position of the community was expressed in a communique issued at the end of its meeting held in Owerri, capital of Imo State.
The communique was jointly signed by Ndidi Anike, Femi Amele Barbara Maigari and Okechukwu Nwanguma.
The meeting, attended by over 100 representatives of human rights organisations, was essentially in response to the human rights emergency in Imo State as represented by the demolition of the Ekwe Uku Market in Owerri and the forceful eviction of traders from the facility by the administration of Mr. Rochas Okorocha, governor of Imo State.
It, however, coincided with the deployment by the Nigerian Army’s Operation Python Dance II in the five states of the South-east.
While the human rights bodies agree with the objective of the operation, which is the maintenance of security, they, however, stated that such objective is the responsibility of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).
According to the communique, participants’ attention was drawn to instances of un-redressed extra-judicial killings and harassment by soldiers deployed to the South-east zone, saying such warranted valid suspicions of something sinister.
“Many participants in the Human Rights Community expressed grave fears about the methods and means envisioned in the exercise. Attention was called to the expressed design for the exercise to ‘transit into real time operations, thereby fulfilling both training and operational objective.’ Questions were raised as to how this dovetails with the primary responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force for law enforcement,” the document stated.
The meeting was also attended by members of community and advocacy groups, including representatives of Keke NAPEP Riders, organized labor, pensioners, retired permanent secretaries, members of the Owerri Community, Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Amnesty International and pressure groups such as ‘OurMumuDonDo’ movement and the media. Equally in attendance were representatives of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Imo State Ministry in an observer capacity.
APC Chieftain Warns Military Not to Plunge Nigeria into Fire
A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has said the ongoing military show of force in the Southeast region of the country, in which some youths and Biafra agitators are allegedly being maltreated is capable of putting the country on fire if not checked.
Frank said in as much as military’s show of force is allowed in a peaceful manner, the current approach in the region needs to be checked, urging on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the political implications of unleashing military on an entire region.
The APC’s Deputy Publicity Secretary in a statement he issued yesterday in Abuja in reaction to a video circulating on the social media where some youths and IPOB members were caught by the military and asked to forcibly swim in a dirty water, said such action is condemnable all over the world.
He warned that the ongoing military action in the region was capable of sabotaging the good intention of APC government and therefore portray the current administration as a military government.
While calling on Nigerians, especially leaders across board irrespective of political differences to speak out against what he described as inhuman treatment of Nigerians, he said: “today it may be the Igbos but tomorrow may be the Ijaws or Yorubas or any other region, by then there may be nobody to speak out. This incident is a total disgrace and embarrassment to the Nigerian government,” he said.
IPC Condemns Army Invasion of Abia State NUJ Secretariat
The International Press Centre has condemned the recent invasion of Abia State secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) by Nigerian soldiers of Operation Python Dance on September 12, 2017.
According to media report, “the military personnel reportedly beat up journalists at sight and destroyed their working tools, furniture, documents and other property yet to be quantified.”
The Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, in a statement described the unprovoked attack as shameful and a clampdown on democracy as the list of attacked journalists recently seems to grow daily with the worrisome trend becoming more condemnable.
“If the military wants to exercise its authority and strength it should be channeled into assisting the media to make progress in a democratic era and not victimizing the media professionals,” Arogundade said.
IPC therefore called on the Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Army Staff to thoroughly probe the incident so that all the personnel involved would be made to face the law.
PDP Decries Alleged Torture of Civilians by Military
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed concern over alleged maltreatment of unarmed civilians by the Nigerian military deplored in some areas of the South-east part of the country.
The party in a statement issued yesterday by the Head of its Publicity Division, Chiinwe Nnorom, said it was appalled by the emergence of a video clip which has gone viral, that shows acts of humiliation against unarmed civilans by members of the Nigerian military.
“That if true, it’s the depth of callousness and a further descent into the gutter by people who are paid to protect life, property as well as the country’s territorial integrity.
“The PDP believes that human life is sacrosanct and must be treated as such by all and sundry; the right to life and liberty as enshrined in our constitution and other international conventions must therefore not only be respected and protected, but must be seen to be so,” the party said
Chidoka Insists Igbo Leaders Should Take Blame for South-east Marginalisation
The Osita Chidoka Campaign Organisation insisted that Igbo leaders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) should take the blame for the escalation of aggressions against the people of the southeast region and the attendant hostilities therefrom
Chidoka who is also the governorship candidate of the United Progressive Party (UPP) in the Anambra State governorship election, also urged youths in the southeast not to resort to violence but resist the temptation to visit the sins of the political elite and unscrupulous uniformed men on other harmless Nigerians on the street.
In a statement issued by the Director of Media, Viola Ifeyinwa Okolie yesterday, the campaign organisation told APGA and APC leaders to stop inundating the organisation with lame explanations but go and face the people who they betrayed.
SAN Condemns Attacks on IPOB Members
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Sebastine Hon, has condemned the treatment meted out to members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by soldiers.
In a statement he issued yesterday, Hon described the video which has gone viral on the Internet, showing most dehumanising treatment of persons suspected to be Biafra apologists, as horrible and horrifying.
According to him, it is unbelievable that the Nigerian Army, once respected globally, would condescend to the level of flogging its hapless captives and compelling them to submerge themselves in thick mud.
He said: ”I didn’t believe my eyes when I first watched the video; and I almost became a psychological wreck when I attempted to watch it again.”
Ekweremadu Condemns Siege, Calls for Calm
The Senate Deputy President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has condemned in strong terms the military siege to the South-east geopolitical zone, noting that dialogue and inclusion were best options in resolving the agitation in the region.
Ekweremadu, however, called on the people of the South-east
to remain calm as he and other leaders of the region were engaging the federal government in meaningful discussions to ensure that the South-east Operation Python Dance was called off soonest.
He said: “The military siege to the South-east is uncalled for because there is no prevailing situation in the region to warrant it in the first place. Instead, it is the Python Dance that appears to be creating problems and raising tension in the region. The agitation in the South East at the moment is best resolved by way of dialogue and a sense of inclusion.”
Halt Operation Python Dance Immediately, IPOB, Ezeemo Tell Buhari
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the candidate of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) in Anambra State governorship poll, Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately halt the Operation Python Dance II in the Southeast as because it is causing unrest in the zone.
IPOB in a statement made available to THISDAY in Awka and signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emma Powerful, stated that anything short of halting the military operation immediately by President Buhari would bring more problems to Nigeria.
The group said: “We reiterate for the record purposes that the ongoing state sponsored genocide in Abia and Rivers States by the Nigerian army must be halted. History is replete with occasional but consistent episodes of pogrom, genocide and mass killings of Biafrans and Christian communities, especially in northern Nigeria.”
“What is more troubling this time is that certain political office holders in the Southeast are comfortable with the idea of inviting the army to Abia State to execute hundreds of young men and women in cold blood simply for asking for their right of self-determination.
“We hold President Buhari, Brig-General Tukur Buratai and Ikepeazu majorly responsible for the cold blooded executions going on now in and around Abia State at this trying time. Humanity must as a duty, take cognizance of the raw incontrovertible evidence of these atrocities already in public domain. Buhari must halt this operation now.”
Falana Condemns Army’s Invasion of Kanu’s House
Human rights activist and lawyer, Femi Falana, yesterday, faulted the deployment of armed troops to Abia State and the house arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, actions which he described as “unconstitutional and illegal.”
Falana noted that since there was no insurrection in Abia State which the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) could not contain, the deployment of the army to the region by the Presidency cannot be justified in law.
“Although the president is empowered by virtue of section 217(2) of the Constitution to deploy the armed forces for the ‘suppression of insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore law order’ he cannot exercise the power until there is an insurrection or civil disturbance which cannot be contained by the police,” Falana said in a statement released yesterday.
“Neither the Constitution nor the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 has empowered the Nigeria Army to arrest any citizen who is not subject to service law,” he said.
Mr. Falana cited the case of Yussuf v Obasanjo (2005) 18 NWLR (Pt 956) 96 the Court of Appeal, which held that “It is up to the police to protect our nascent democracy and not the military, otherwise the democracy might be wittingly or unwittingly militarized. This is not what the citizenry bargained for in wrestling power from the military in 1999. Conscious step or steps should be taken to civilianize the polity to ensure the survival and sustenance of democracy.”