HURIWA DEMANDS WHEREABOUTS OF OVER 300 SUSPECTED KIDNAPPERS:...... *Says Nigeria Police delights only in parading but no prosecution:

A prominent pro-democracy and civil Rights advocacy group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA  (HURIWA) has challenged the hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force to transparently account for the exact WHEREABOUTS of the well over 500 paraded suspected armed Fulani bandits; kidnappers and other sundry armed hoodlums arrested by them since the early part of this year.

HURIWA said it was regrettable that whereas the Nigeria Police Force forcefully and frequently parade hundreds of suspected armed kidnappers and hoodlums but only very few notably the Billionaire kidnapper Mr. Evans has been prosecuted whereas all others arrested around the Northern axis made up of armed Fulani herdsmen turned bandits and kidnappers have seldomly been known to have been prosecuted the same way that Evans the billionaire kidnapper has faced the long arm of the law before the Lagos state High Court of justice for his heinous crimes against humanity.  The Rights group stated that it is inconceivable that the offices of the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation including the Attorney Generals of the respective states in some Northern States like Zamfara will allow the Zamfara State governor to embark on negotiated settlements with armed Fulani bandits who are responsible for some 3,000 mass murders instead of bringing these culprits to face justice in accordance with the laws. 

HURIWA stated that there is the urgency of the now for the top hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force to transparently render accounts publicly and open up the books and detention facilities to the National Human Rights Commission and credible civil Rights advocacy groups all across the Country to verify the exact situations concerning the progress of prosecution or otherwise of the well over 500 paraded suspected armed Fulani bandits and kidnappers. 

The Rights group said the measure is necessary so the insinuations that the Police usually set free these armed Fulani bandits and armed herdsmen as soon as they are paraded in the media is doused. HURIWA wonders why suddenly there is a spike in armed Fulani banditry in faraway Enugu state in which over two dozen innocent persons including Catholic priests have been slaughtered.  There is the accusation that those inflicting terror in Enugu state may have been those set free by the police authority in Abuja and far North. 

"There is a widespread perceptions by a lot of Nigerians that the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force are playing to the gallery by always parading armed suspected kidnappers and armed Fulani herdsmen just to deceive Nigerians but this same Nigeria Police headed by Alhaji Adamu Muhammad is accused of not been straightforward with Nigerians regarding what happens with these armed Fulani bandits as soon as the media goes to the market with the propaganda that they have been arrested and paraded. Under the Freedom of information Act the law makes it incumbent on the Police and law enforcement authority to render proper and verifiable accounts of the arrests and also constantly let Nigerians know what has become of these suspects so this groundswell of accusations of ethnically coloured policing style is not sustained."

HURIWA said: “It would be recalled that about 36 SUSPECTED KIDNAPPERS were nabbed and paraded by the Commissioner of police in the state earlier in the year, CP Hakeem Busari, who paraded the suspects at the police command in Lokoja and stated that the feat was made possible through the efforts of men of "Operation Puff Adder" in the state.

Amongst those paraded was one Christopher Attah, an apprentice at Okoye Clinic, Ankpa, who was arrested for allegedly conspiring with others to kill a doctor, who is the proprietor of the clinic.

CP Busari said Attah and three other suspects - Suleiman Idris, Abdulwahab and Abdul Abu - allegedly killed the doctor after robbing him of N1.6 million cash.

He also said two kidnap suspects, John Okonkwo and Lawal Gambo, were arrested in the process of collecting N10 million ransom for the kidnap of one Mr Uchenna Ogbu, a cow dealer in Lokoja on June 5.

He said Suleiman Baba, Usman Abubakar, Aliyu Abdullahi, Kayode Oloruntoba and Kayode Rufus were arrested for allegedly kidnapping Mr Mathew Peter at Oyo village on June 17.

He also stated that Musa Ismaila, Muhammed Bingiri, Abubakar Yahaya and Umaru Bingiri were held for masterminding the kidnap of Ardo of Gegu village also on June 17.

He added that one Ocheme Kizito was arrested for threatening to kidnap the chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and members of his family.

HURIWA  stated that the Nigeria Police on Monday July 14th this year in Abuja paraded 13 suspects alleged to be involved in the kidnap of the district head of Daura (Magajin Garin Daura), Musa Umar.

HURIWA recalled that Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, a deputy commissioner of police, who paraded the suspects at the headquarters of the Special Anti-robbery Squad, in Guzape, Abuja, said they were picked up at their hideouts in Daura, Katsina State as well as in Kano State.

He said the suspects were also responsible for the kidnapping and killing of some expatriates who owned and worked in construction companies in Nigeria.

The alleged kingpin of the suspects in the Daura monarch’s kidnap, who identified himself as Yusuf Dahiru, told journalists that their action was informed by the need to secure the release of their members who were arrested and placed under custody of security operatives.

The other suspects are: Aminu Saleh, 46; Abdullah Mohammed, 26; Bilal Yusuf, 32; and Sarfilu Abdu, 25, a native of Daura.

Others are Dahiru Musa, 38; Tukur Bukar, 35; Ibrahim Ibrahim, 26; Mohammed Saidu, 36; Abubakar Adamu, 27; Mustapha Zakariyya, 32; Ibrahim Mohammed, 29; and Bako Mustapha, 29.

HURIWA recalled that in May of this year also about 93 kidnappers on Kaduna-Abuja Highway were paraded.

HURIWA which cited media reports said DCP Frank Mba, said the 93 suspected kidnappers and armed robbers were arrested within two weeks in joint operations in Kaduna, Niger and Katsina States.

According to Mba, 35 AK47 Rifles, 21 Dane Guns and more than 500 live ammunition were recovered from the suspects.

According to him, “The suspects were arrested from Matari Forest, Niger axis and some were pursued to as far as Katsina. Subsequently in June the same Force spokesman paraded 38 SUSPECTED KIDNAPPERS. 

HURIWA recalled that the Public Relations officer and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba, disclosed that the leader of the gang that kidnapped the UBEC chairman, Samaila Sule aka Shaho was killed in a gun battle with Operation Pu Adder operatives.

The suspects arrested were listed as Abubakar Ahmadu aka Dabo, 27 year old from Zamfara State living in Rijiana village along Abuja-Kaduna expressway and second in command, who is famed for shooting and killing innocent citizens along the expressway. Other suspects are Musa Hassan aka Anaruwa 26 years old from Kano State who supplies arms and ammunition and coordinates the evacuation and selling of rustled cows, Umar Musa 22 years from Kaduna state, a close condant of gang leader, Shaho and Mallam Saidu Musa, 57 years from Tudun Wada, Kaduna State who lives in Rijiana village along Abuja-Kaduna expressway.

HURIWA recalled that the kidnappers said their 7-man gang with ve AK 47 ries killed the driver of the UBEC chairman because his stubborness, adding that they successfully negotiated and collected the ransom which they shared before releasing the victims. In a similar vein, Abubakar Umar aka Dogo, leader of the gang that specialised in kidnapping foreigners confessed that their spiritual leader, Malam Salisu Abubakar who had earlier been arrested by the Police was the pillar of the gang because he gave spiritual clearance before they embark on any operation.

Other members of the gang paraded we’re Saleh Idris 67 year old Fulani from Koro village, Kaduna State, Bello Abdullahi 35 years old from Kaduna state, Abdullahi Musa 40 years old from Kaduna state, Ya’u Abdullahi 45 years old from Kaduna state, Nuhu Yakubu 20 years old from Kaduna state and Ismail Yakubu 30 years old from Bassa-Iga, Plateau State. Also paraded were Aliyu Mohammed 35, Tilde Fulani from Bauchi State, Ibrahim Yakubu 30, from Plateau State, Ibrahim Zubairu 25, from Kaduna State, Abdullahi Ahmed 32, from Kaduna State, and Hamze Jibrin Bayero from Jos North, Plateau state.

HURIWA therefore expressed disappointment that not much of information flows out after those media shows of parading armed suspected kidnappers and armed Fulani herdsmen and this conspiratorial silence has therefore led to the emergence of strong suspicions of collusion between the Nigeria Police Force and those armed Fulani bandits.  

HURIWA CAUTIONS GERMANY ON EXTRADITION OF EKWEREMADU'S ATTACKERS: ...... *SAYS THEY WOULD BE TORTURED AND DEHUMANIZED BY BUHARI'S DICTATORSHIP:

Fearing that the current totalitarian administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would subject them to torture and dehumanizing conditions under indefinite detention in the underground cells of the department of State Services(DSS), a leading Pro-democracy and Non-Governmental organization body- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has advised the Government of Germany not to extradite the alleged attackers of the erstwhile Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu back to the Nigerian soil.

HURIWA stated that any attempt by the German government to capitulate to the not so well thought out demand by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to repatriate the alleged members of the non-violent self-determination pro-BIAFRA group- the Indigenous peoples of Ibarra (IPOB) back to Nigeria to face uncertainty,  would amount to the breach of international human rights laws which absolutely prohibits the extradition of persons to places whereby they may either face the death penalty or be subjected to horrendous cocktails of physical, emotional and psychological torture even as the Rights group also stated that the government of Germany needs to be reminded that the Nigerian President treats Court's decisions with disdain which means that he will inevitably subject those citizens to extralegal punishments.

HURIWA said it would be writing to the Chancellor of Germany Mrs Angela Merkel to oppose any contemplated extradition of the suspected attackers of the former Nigerian Deputy Senate President who was humiliated by members of IPOB out of a yam Festival in Nuremberg Germany about few days back just as the Rights group said it was necessary to point out to the government of Germany that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has subjected members of the hitherto non-violent  civil Rights and self-determination platform- IPOB  to series of extralegal measures including the deployment of armed security forces to unleash violence on the members of IPOB in 2017 July including the direct military attack at the Umuahia Abia State home of the Director of Indigenous peoples of BIAFRA  even as the government arbitrarily proscribed the civil Rights group as a terrorist organization just for democratically canvassing for self-determination and the peaceful actualization of the Republic of BIAFRA which became defunct after the three year fratricidal civil war in which over 3 million civilians in the then Eastern region of Nigeria were killed or starved to death. HURIWA reminded Germany that Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch both of USA and UK have documented verifiable evidence of use of torture and widespread allegations of extralegal executions of members of IPOB by the Nigerian Security forces on the command and control of President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

HURIWA in a statement  by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf said it was disturbing that the Nigerian government is mounting pressures on the government of Germany to charge the protesters to court only because they resisted the attendance to the Igbo related event in Germany by the Senator from Igboland Ike Ekweremadu because of their grievances that the people of South East of Nigeria are systematically being killed by armed bandits and armed Fulani herdsmen in their South Eastern region whilst the political elite especially from the South East region do nothing to stop these crimes against humanity. HURIWA stated that even the alleged victim of attack in Nuremberg Germany Senator Ike Ekweremadu has even forgiven his traducers.

HURIWA stated thus: "We are shocked to read that the  alleged attackers of the former deputy senate president, Dr Ike Ekweremadu have been identified by Bavaria state police in Germany going by the hints from an official of the foreign affairs ministry in Abuja who also said that the Bavaria state police have analyzed the attack videos and identified four of the suspected attackers and went ahead to disclose that he cannot reveal their identities for now because the German authorities are now co-operating with us and investigating the attack."

The incident it would be recalled had received varying degrees of reactions with some generally condemning the action whilst others have tasked political elite in Nigeria to view the phenomenon as the last warning by oppressed Nigerians who may no longer suffer and smile.  Weighing in on the situation, the leader of the group, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who almost got killed by soldiers in 2017 in his reaction opined that Ekweremadu’s case was a warning to all Igbo leaders in the south-east zone.

HURIWA has however stated categorically that the government of Germany should abide by global best practices and avoid repatriating IPOB members to Nigeria under the current suffocating dictatorship because of   compelling circumstances in this instance which in international law is said to constitute a reason for States to usually accept the risk of an adverse response and attempt to gain jurisdiction over fugitives through the operation of their extradition treaties. While most extradition treaties are bilateral, multilateral treaty conventions have recently emerged.

HURIWA stated that going through a plethora of legal studies it has however become clear that there are other limitations guiding a State's discretion to expel aliens include multilateral refugee conventions, regional human rights conventions, and thematic human rights instruments.

HURIWA recalled that "International human rights law is derived from a network of United Nations resolutions, multilateral treaties, decisions of treaty-based organizations, and customary international law. Treaty-based human rights organizations ' have played an important role in imposing new limits on States' discretion to extradite persons to other States. These controls have been imposed in the absence of explicit discretionary limits in the respective extradition treaties. This "incorporation" of "the law of extradition" into these treaties largely originated from decisions of treaty-based organizations where individual petitioners exercised their rights under the respective treaty and protocol provisions to petition those organizations for relief from victimization."

                  

CONCENTRATING DEFENCE AND INTERIOR PORTFOLIOS IN THE HANDS OF MOSLEMS IS UNFAIR- SAYS HURIWA:

A Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the appointments of MOSLEMS as ministers of Interior and Defence in a heterogeneous and multireligious society like Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari since winning elections for two consecutive tenures. HURIWA described concentration of the Defence appointments in one religion as breaching section 42(1) of the Constitution which prohibits discrimination. 

The Rights group said the expectations of most Nigerians was that the President Muhammadu Buhari would Correct the deliberate scheming out of Christians from the control of Defence related and national security positions in his second and final tenure but expressed shock that he has repeated the mistake of his first tenure. 

HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf also condemned the domination of juicy offices by the Northern Nigeria to the exclusion of the South just as the Rights group wondered why Abia and Imo produced only ministers of State whereas the North West specifically cornered the 75% of first class cabinet level appointments.  

On the positive note the group commended the President for appointing a young man Mr. Sunday Dare to head the ministry of youth and Sports and for creating a ministry for HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS. 

HURIWA reacted to the inauguration of the Federal Executive Council for the final tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration  as follows: "The action of Mr. President today in inaugurating the Federal cabinet even though it is late because he has been sworn in since May and it has taken him ages to set up his cabinet is good. 

Mr President has also told his ministers that they would work within a time line and a time frame plus milestones on what they should achieve. In as much as we are displeased that it took ages for him to set up his cabinet but we are happy that if Mr president should strictly adhere by his own avowed commitment to deliver the goals of his Second and last tenure as the president of Nigeria in a very massive way, it will create positive impact and it will lift a lot of Nigerians from poverty in real time not talking about political concept. 

If the cabinet will follow the milestone set for them and if Mr President will not unduly tolerate laziness on the part of his ministers like he did in the last four years. He tolerated a lot of incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, lazy and ruthlessly uncommitted and unpatriotic persons as ministers, and he spent and wasted public resources keeping those lazy people in offices for four years which is a very bad investment. 

Mr President should sack any minister that doesn't meet the milestone set for them. 

Mr President should publish those milestone so that he won't be the only person that knows them because ministers are not his own ministers, rather thay are for Nigerians. Mr President should state clearly what are his expectations from these ministers and the ministers for states. 

Mr President should create an enabling environment for credible NGOs that operate in Nigeria to monitor the activities of this ministers.

We applaud Mr president for creating a special ministry for humanitarian affairs and disaster management, but the creation of that ministry shows it is a vote of no confidence on NEMA but we want the president to consider that and he should downgrade NEMA. 

NEMA should just be a department within that ministry because NEMA is not really working, or NEMA should be fundamentally overhauled and reformed. 

The president should appoint a much more robust and competent person to head NEMA because NEMA’ impact is not felt by victims of disasters apart from the people of Borno State. States like Kogi, Imo, Delta,  that are prone to flood don't see NEMA helping them to overcome the situation.  So it is good that Mr president should implement a very giant step to tell Nigerians that he is committed in tackling various disasters in the country is a commendable step. 

Also Nigerians should keep their eyes open and watch these ministers and to make sure they perform. 

Secondly, Mr President should abolish the ministry of women affairs for ministry for family and children affairs.  Ministry for women affairs has no relevance, it has never worked, it has never promoted the interest of even the women themselves and Mr president should think of how to compensate Nigerian women because the composition of his cabinet is grossly inadequate in terms of women representation. 

And even the youths are not there apart from one person in his cabinet who can be considered as a youth; the man from IMO state. every other persons in his cabinet are in their 60s or 70s which is quite unfortunate. And the one in Sports is also young. 

Nigeria has a population of over 60% youths and at least 60 % of the population of Nigerians are women and girls, so the women should be properly considered in the cabinet. 

Mr President should use the composition of the governing boards of agencies to correct the mistake he has made and give most of the strategic agencies to be headed by women. 

Mr President should not continue the political game of appointing only card carrying members of APC. The card carrying members of APC are not the only people that voted for him. If it were for the only card carrying members to vote for him he cannot even win the councillorship, so appointing only the card carrying members of APC does not make sense. 

Mr president must be a president of Nigeria not a president of APC and he must be a statesman especially now that he is ruling for the last tenure. He should leave a legacy of commitment to service and patriotism. 

We are not happy that most of the cabinet appointments are cornered to the northwest. The northwest cornered virtually 50% of the juicy ministries and all of them are senior ministers and he just gave IMO and Abia a minister for states. Is unfair because the Igbo population in Nigeria is not less than 50million and constitutionally either people vote for you or not, you must appoint one minister From each state of the federation. 

Why will Mr President try to repeat the mistake of his first term where he concentrates all his appointments to Muslims? Where he has minister of defence, all those heading departments as service chiefs, national security adviser, NIA, DSS, Custom, Immigration, Prison, all Muslims which is quite unfortunate. Mr President should not repeat the mistakes he made again unless he is not prepared to bequeath his legacy of statesmanship and patriotism to Nigerians. Unless he is prepared to remain a regional leader of the north when he leaves Office."

Obono-Obla: investigate accusations of interference against vice president-: HURIWA

President Muhammadu Buhari has been challenged to personally oversee an investigation into allegations of undue interferences and active undermining of the mandate of the presidential committee on recovery of public property made against the vice president Professor Yemi Osinbanjo and erstwhile justice minister Abubakar Malami (SAN) by the suspended head of the panel- Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla.

Making the demand in a statement to the media is the leading pro-democracy and civil Rights advocacy body- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) in a jointly endorsed presentation by the national coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf even as the Rights group said sweeping the extensively damaging allegations under the carpet could mean the end of the anti-graft battles by the current administration. HURIWA said the accusations made by Obono Obla constituted serious issues that must be probed forensically if the current administration is to convince the international community that it does not condone impunity and corruption by those in the corridors of powers nearest to the President and his deputy Professor Yemi Osinbanjo. 

“The fundamental ethos of justice, equity, equality before the law and respect for the principles of Rule of law is that nobody is above the laws of the land. In effect this means that no matter the political status of any citizen, everyone is subjected to the rule of law and no class of people must be graded as ‘untouchables’, and/or sacred cows in the fight against corruption”. HURIWA said the accusations against the principal officers working under Mr. President who makes the heavy weather of the claim that his administration is waging a war against corruption and graft is also an abuse of office and power which section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution frowns against.  

HURIWA which was the group that petitioned the National Assembly against the now suspended chairman of the presidential panel on recovery of public property over alleged certificate forgery, however, stated that it would be absolutely unconstitutional for president Muhammadu Buhari to gloss over or overlook the serious allegations of unjust interference and attempts to cripple the functioning of the presidential panel made against key government officials including vice president Osinbanjo who is now been accused of using his nominee the chairman of the independent corrupt practices and related offences commission (ICPC) to reportedly wage his wars against the now suspended head of the presidential panel Mr. Obono Obla. The Rights group said the media presentation made by Obono Obla must not be dismissed as claims of a drowning man since he seems to have provided empirical body of evidence to support his claims of internal sabotage made against the Vice President and the erstwhile Federal Attorney General and minister of justice Alhaji Abubakar Malami. 

HURIWA stated thus: " Recall that in a response to the circumstances surrounding his current suspension from office as reported and confirmed by the Secretary to the government of the Federation Mr. Boss Mustapher, Mr. Obono-Obla said that he was not disturbed by his purported sack, adding that what was happening was corruption fighting back because his panel was investigating highly placed individuals connected to those in power."

HURIWA stated that the now suspended Presidential Panel Chairman, who is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, also claimed that an official of the Nigeria Football Federation that was facing corruption charges had recently boasted that he (Obono-Obla) will soon be removed after paying a "visit to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

"He also stated that there is a letter from the Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Vice President to him in January this year that he should suspend all investigation cases because government wanted to carry out a review of the panel.

HURIWA recalled that the suspended Chairman had stated as follows: “They say I am uncontrollable, I don’t know how they want to control an anti-corruption fighter. If you are not the kind of person I am, you can’t fight corruption because corruption is systematic, it is endemic in Nigeria. So, you need a rugged person. The President said all anti-corruption agencies should be given a free hand, absolutely to work, there should not be any interference. The President has never sacked me but they have sacked me many times. Sometimes, they write letters to me that I should suspend my work. In January I got a letter from the

Deputy Chief of Staff, office of the Vice President that I should suspend all investigations that government wants to carry out a review and I said if the President was doing that, it should come from the Chief of Staff to the President. When I arrested one oil mogul, we investigated the company and discovered that the company had not paid $3 million. They have oil bloc. When I arrested him to get the money from him, I had a lot of phone calls from the same people and they have not been happy with me that was in July, that I touched somebody who is close to them".

The Rights group said the Chairman is credited with making the claims thus: “These are all the forces and the ICPC has joined them. Why should they go and seal a government office on a non-working day? It is absurd. If they want to sack me, they should sack me and not to close down government office and ordered everybody inside not to come out and that nobody should go in. This is a government office; we have sensitive security documents there. If they want to remove me, they should tell me and I will hand over all the government documents in my custody, sensitive documents and case files to whoever is taking over from me. When I am investigating corrupt people, I cannot be selective, that is my offence because I have been very uncompromising. I don’t know why they want to control me. They gave me the job in the first place because I have the gut, I have the heart and the passion to do it, so they should allow me. I have gone into a lot of areas other anti-corruption agencies have not gone into."

HURIWA however reminded President Muhammadu Buhari that his administration need not throw the baby with the bathwater and must not compromise the anti-graft war. 

HURIWA condemns police emasculation of civil Rights:

The prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has warned of the dire consequences of the President Muhammadu Buhari's consistent misuse of his powers to use the armed security forces to emasculate civil rights of Nigerians.

The Rights group stated this in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf issued against the backdrop of the reported attacks by armed security forces in Lagos targeting participants at a town hall meeting titled *Revolution Now* in which the likes of the Nobel prize for  literature  winner Professor Wole Soyinka and civil Rights leader Femi Falana (SAN) amongst a plethora of other Nigerians were disallowed from holding the scheduled peaceful assemble of pro-human rights advocates. 

“The danger in allowing the continuous deployment of military force to stop peaceful and constructive civic engagements is that constitutional democracy may collapse under the heavyweight of authoritarianism and the consequences will be huge to such a level that it could result in Nigeria becoming a massively  failed state,” HURIWA submitted.

The Rights group has therefore demanded the release unconditionally of all those arrested in connection with any form of non-violent civic engagements because of the exercise of their fundamental freedoms enshrined in chapter four of the 1999 constitution which absolutely do not constitute any treason but indeed what is treasonable and obnoxious is the persistent and illegal use of security forces by government to crush civil rights actions by Nigerians which in some cases have resulted in arbitrary mass arrests and illegal detention.

HURIWA cited section 39(1) “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”

Section 40 “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests: Provided that the provisions of this section shall not derogate from the powers conferred by this Constitution on the Independent National Electoral Commission with respect to political parties to which that Commission does not accord recognition.”

Section 41(1) “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.”

Section 42 (1)(2) “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person:- (a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject; or (b) be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions.”

“No citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth.” HURIWA also stated that the actions of the security forces are in clear violations of the aforementioned constitutional provisions and that the government is replacing constitutional democracy with an authoritarian police state. 

HURIWA recalled that Police, Nigerian Army and Department of State Services (DSS) operatives on Monday sealed off the venue of a symposium where Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN, and other speakers were to speak on the insecurity situation in Nigeria.

HURIWA recalled that the Police vehicles were positioned around the venue located at 46 Ibijoke Street, Oluyole bus-stop, Oregun, Lagos.

HURIWA quoting the conveners in a report stated that the programme tagged “Democracy, State Repression and the State of insecurity in Nigeria”, was organized by Coalition for Revolution (CORE) just as HURIWA recalled that CORE, a group led by the detained 2019 presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, and its allies, recently vowed to resume protests demanding revolution in Nigeria.

IDPs connote leadership failure

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

“The only solution that works is to change the hole,

because a square peg will always be a square peg”

– Richard Templar; “The Rules of People”.

Nigeria is one place that is both fascinating and intriguing. 

Nigeria my Country is fascinating because of the large number of human beings inhabiting the geographical space that at given time are some of the best people to govern anywhere in the World. Nigerians are mostly worshippers in organized religious groups whereby they are indoctrinated with the ideological belief that they should be law abiding and should pray for their leaders. The saying by the great Karl Marx that "Religion is the Opium of the people", is true in every sense when discussing the weltanschauung (Worldview) of the average Nigerian. 

Nigeria is intriguing because of the ugly fact that although the majority of the citizenry are law abiding and incredibly committed to building a peaceful, prosperous and United Nation-state, the nation is cursed with the kind of leadership that is predatory, selfish, egostic and spiteful of the rest of the human beings residing therein outside of their immediate nuclear families. Nigerian political rulers have through various levels of corrupt practices, have destroyed basic infrastructures of health; education and road including access to electricity power to the people.  Ironically, the children of the politicians live abroad. 

The erudite writer, novelist and globally respected English language scholar who has gone to be with his creator, professor Chinua Achebe, was perhaps one thinker who took his intellectual time to record exactly what the Nigerian problem is and this statement which he made in his smallest books the trouble with Nigeria has remained unbeatable.

“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership”.

Achebe spoke further thus: “In spite of the tendency of people in power to speak about this great nation of ours there is no doubt that Nigerians are among the world’s most unpatriotic people. But this is not because Nigerians are particularly evil or wicked; in fact they are not. It rather because patriotism, being part of an unwritten social contract between a citizen and the state, cannot exist where the state reneges on the agreement. The state undertakes to organize society in such a way that the citizen can enjoy peace and justice, and the citizen in return agrees to perform his patriotic duties”.

He then hit the nail on the head on the historicity of much of our institutional crises thus: “Indiscipline pervades our life so completely today that one may be justified in calling it the condition per excellence of contemporary Nigerian society. We see and hear and read about indiscipline in the home, in the school, in the public services, in the private sector, in government and in legislative assemblies, on the roads, in the air.”

Professor Achebe located the core of the leadership problems to the roles played by political sycophants who dominate the current government as follows: “Harnessed to the trappings of protocol and blockaded by a buffer of grinning courtiers and sycophants, even a good and intelligent leader will gradually begin to forget  what the real world looks like. When a President of Nigeria sets out to see things for himself, what does he actually see? Highways temporarily cleared of lunatic drivers by even more lunatic presidential escorts; hitherto impassable tracks freshly graded and even watered to keep down the dust; buildings dripping fresh paint; well-fed obsequious welcoming parties; garlands of colorful toilet paper hung round the neck by women leaders; troupes of “cultural dancers” in the sun, and many other such scenes of contented citizenry. But history tells us of wise rulers at different times and places who achieved rare leadership by their blunt and simple refusal to be fooled by guided tours of their own country.”

Professor Achebe made valid points so also is one of the best-selling authors of our time called Richard Templar, who we quoted in the beginning as providing the clearest solution to the issues associated with state failures. 

He Mr. Richard Templar suggested that the way to go is to enthrone a leadership that is characterized by merit, professionalism and competence because the problem with nation-building can be solved if the best person is made the leader. Plato in his Republic had suggested that only Philosopher kings should rule meaning that only the most competent should lead. 

Achebe had earlier provided the best reason why certain good leaders became bad once in public office in Nigeria and he blamed it squarely on reliance of those leaders to the information fed to them by sycophants.

The above scholarly contributions bring us to the theme of our reflection today which is on the expanding frontiers of internally displaced persons’ camps in Nigeria.

A cursory look at page 3 of today’s The Guardian newspapers Nigeria will tell you that the issues of the growing numbers  of internally displaced persons’ camps has even started to become a thing of politics. 

The picture that graced that page shows a foreign embassy officials apparently smiling to the camera whilst distributing relief materials to Nigerians who have been forced to abandon their homes to reside in the internally displaced persons’ camp somewhere in Katsina , the home state of Nigeria’s current president. To the question of the identity of those who created the horrendous human rights crisis that occasioned the springing up of different IDP camps, the brief answer is to say that armed flank herdsmen are primarily responsible. 

These armed bandits are known to be armed Fulani herdsmen who enjoy the political support of a group known as Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners group which also enjoys political patronage from the presidency in Abuja.

I say this with all sense of duty to God and humanity because for over three years, we have called on president Buhari to proscribe this aforementioned group as a terrorist group given their support for the violent activities of armed Fulani herdsmen, but even the media advisers of president Buhari have loudly defended this organization known to have publicly supported the violence unleashed by armed Fulani herdsmen. The President has also planned to reward them by building settlements even in strange places far from their ancestral lands in the North of Nigeria. 

Aside the photograph on the page three of The Guardian of today, we were also told by the office of the president that the president commissioned a project within the IDP camp in Katsina shortly before he returned to Abuja from his latest Sallah break which he spent in Daura, Katsina state.

What worries me is that whilst we all applaud foreign donors who magnanimously donate relief materials to the IDPs, what we failed to do is to ask the relevant question to the relevant quarters why phenomenon of IDPs has widened and why there is no concerted effort by the government to prosecute terrorists and the so-called armed bandits who are mostly armed Fulani herdsmen and who are responsible for the violence that led to the expanding frontiers of IDPs. 

Why are the United Nations and the international criminal court in The Hague Netherlands, too slow to bring perpetrators of terrorism and armed banditry to justice since it is now clear that the Nigerian government as currently constituted has no agenda for effectively prosecuting terrorists and armed Fulani herdsmen? 

Is it that Nigerians are too comfortable to watch as millions of Nigerians are thrown out of their homes into the growing numbers of internally displaced persons’ camps?

“Over 2.7 million people have been displaced, including over 1.9 million IDPs in North Eastern Nigeria”. This is what you get from the statistical documentation made by the United Nations commission for Refugees (UNHCR). 

The truth, painful as it is that Nigerians must task the National Assembly to wake up and speak for growing numbers of IDPs in both the North East, North West, North Central and even those who have left the shores of Nigeria to find shelters in the IDP camps located in Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The senate president Ahmed Lawan who is gradually being perceived as a rubber stamp National Assembly leader must wake up before Nigeria collapses. After all half his constituents in Yobe state live in IDP camps. 

The holders of government offices may need to be reminded that the function of both government officials and the ordinary citizens is to make sure that this growing numbers of internally displaced persons’ camps are reduced by playing our respectful lawful roles to ensure that the perpetrators of terrorism and violence are not allowed to escape the full weight of justice. 

The practice of granting pardon to mass killers as being adopted by government is the direct cause of the continuous regime of mass killings all over Nigeria.

Nigeria must never be allowed to snow ball into full scale state failures which is what is becoming imminent so long as we allow IDPs to spring up all over the country whereas those we have elected to serve in government are only after their pockets and have all taken away their immediate families to safe havens in Canada, U.S.A and Europe and have watched as terrorists and armed gangs inflict blood cuddling violence on the rest of Nigeria.

A nation state like Nigeria is adjudged to have failed if those who wield governmental powers fail to carry out their primary duty which the Nigerian constitution spelt out to be the provision of security of lives of Nigerians and their property and state institutions.

The critical functions of government includes military defence/national security; maintenance of domestic order; administration of justice; protection of civil liberties; and regulation of the conduct of periodic election; and provision for public good and services. Those ruling Nigeria are found wanting in the discharge of these lawful duties. 

My humble appeal to the leaders of the international community is that they should take more pleasure in putting pressure actively on the government to perform the functions stipulated by law and stop the killings and these foreign entities should derive no joy in distributing relief materials to the unfortunate victims of the violence which the international community stands by and watch whilst Nigerians are killed in their numbers. 

It is better to compel government to defend Nigerians or for the current officials to quit the stage because no matter how you tend to accommodate a failure in government, what you get is more colossal state failure.  The World will regret it should the World leaders continue to watch as all kinds of armed hoodlums kill Nigerians. 

*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com;www.emmanuelonwubiko.com,www.thenigerianinsidernews.com.