HURIWA WANT PERMANENT COMMISSIONS TO END KADUNA/BENUE KILLINGS

A pro-democracy group-HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has called for an end to the killings in Benue and Southern Kaduna State.

To this end, the Rights group has asked the governors of Kaduna and Benue States to table before their respective State Houses of Assembly executive bills for the creation of statutory peace and conflict negotiation commission to coordinate constant inter-ethnic, inter-religious dialogues and conflict resolutions. 

Besides, HURIWA has advocated swift delivery of criminal justice to all suspected mass murderers in Kaduna and Benue states to serve as deterrent to other would be killers.

The group said the continuous inter-ethnic discord resulting in mass killings and other heinous crimes against humanity in Kaduna and Benue states must not be swept under the carpets as have been the practice because according to it, the mass murderers have drawn strength and courage from the fact that impunity reign making it impossible for the state governments to sufficiently bring killers to justice or justice to the mass murderers over the past couple of years.

HURIWA has also asked the Federal government and the National Assembly to allow the setting up of armed Neighborhood security outfits in the 36 States of the federation to be composed of persons of impeccable and crime free records under the supervisions of State commissioners of police and the Houses of Assembly to check the upsurge in the bloody rampage and mass killings by suspected Fulani Herdsmen.

These suggestions came against the backdrop of the weekend slaughter of over one hundred villagers in their sleep in Kaura local government area council of Kaduna State by gunmen suspected to be armed Fulani Herdsmen.

In a media release, the National coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf also tasked the respective court systems at the state level to discharge their constitutional duties under section 6 of the constitutions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 (as amended) by decisively handling cases relating to mass killings without let or hindrance. It suggested the imposition of death sentence for convicted mass killers.

HURIWA affirmed that the collapses of judicial system in some parts of Nigeria may have given rise to the regime of impunity encouraging the unrelenting spate of mass killings in Kaduna, Benue and Plateau State even as the Rights group charged the National Judicial Council to monitor closely prosecution of suspects arrested for mass killings of villagers.

“We hereby condemn in the strongest possible terms, the continuous decimation of villagers by alleged armed marauders believed to be Fulani Herdsmen who have unleashed bloody violence in parts of Southern Kaduna State. We ask the Kaduna state government and that of Benue State with similar demonic experiences to consider the immediate setting up of statutory commissions on peace and conflict Resolution as the best way to get early conflict warning signs and making concrete effort to resolve them”.

HURIWA said the killings in Kaduna and Benue keep happening because almost all previous cases of horrendous mass killings have been swept under the carpets just as it reminded the government that the ghosts of all those killed will not rest until the killers are punished in compliance with the Rule of Law. 

17/2/2014