BLINKEN: ATTACK ON US CONVOY IN ANAMBRA MAY NOT HAVE BEEN PRE-TARGETED AT OUR MISSION

and totally bypassed the existing security architecture in the state and the state government was not aware of the humanitarian mission of the visiting team.

"In a place like parts of Ogbaru, where security forces have been fighting the criminals and oil bunkerers, the sight of few policemen can, indeed, attract vengeance from the criminal gangs. Correcting such lapses and ensuring better coordination will help prevent such avoidable incidents in the future."

A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), also yesterday, condemned the attack by gunmen on United States Embassy staff convoy in Anambra State.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, tasked security agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.

HURIWA said although no US citizen was killed, those killed were nationalities of other nations or even Nigeria, including the policemen, and “so the USA should think of imposing travel ban on the governors of the South-east of Nigeria to compel them to act swiftly to end the mindless orgies of dastardly attacks and bloodshed in Igboland.”

Onwubiko added, “The killing and the attack on US Consulate staffers in Anambra State on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 is shameful and a national disgrace to Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari under whose watch kidnapping and violent killings by armed marauders have skyrocketed to an unimaginable and shocking height.

“This is condemnable and our security agencies must do all possible to bring the perpetrators to book.”

HURIWA also blasted the Nigeria Police, Anambra State Command, for lacking action and displaying crass ignorance, when the spokesperson of the police in the state reportedly blamed the US Embassy for sending a medical mission without prior information to the Police Command in Anambra State.

HURIWA also slammed the outgoing Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, for allegedly hitting commercial motorcyclists in Abakaliki with his convoy on his way to the airport and allegedly killing three citizens of Ebonyi State.

HURIWA said the governor should be personally held responsible for the mindless deaths and should be prosecuted in about two weeks after he loses immunity upon disengagement from the office of governor on May 29.