Ogbonna Casmir, Enugu
The President of Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), Olu Omotayo Esq has described failure of leadership as responsible for the killings of innocent citizens at Ukpabi-Nimbo Community by the Fulani invaders.
Loading ...The rights group regretted that an imminent attack that could have been prevented, when the villagers became apprehensive last week when they noticed the movement of large numbers of armed Fulani herdsmen around their area, informed Mr.Cornell Onwubuya the Chairman of
the Transition Committee Uzo-Uwani Local Government and also informed the state government and the leadership of the State Police Command, yet they could not avert the massacre of the people.
The group in a statement signed by its president recalled that 76 natives were abducted in March 2016, and taken away by the military from Ugwuneshi Autonomous Community, Awgu, Awgu Local Government of Enugu State because of the conflict they had with the Fulani herdsmen and later handed over to the Police in Abia State, who arraigned them on a phantom charge before a Magistrates’ Court in Abia State, which remanded them in prison custody.
According the statement, the governor instead of setting up a Panel to investigate this grave human rights violation, never make any statement condemning the act but only went to the scene and was talking of compensating the people of the community; “we submitted then that human lives and liberty should be the first priority and that the governor took a wrong step in a wrong direction.”
He said in the instant case of the killings at Ukpabi Nimbo Community, the Governor and the security agencies had first hand information on the then imminent attack but failed to take any step.
“The governor as the Chief security officer of the state never gives a concrete directive to the security operatives to disarm the armed invaders knowing full well that it is an offence of unlawful possession of firearms for anybody to have such sophisticated firearms in his possession.
“The Commissioner of Police despite the weighty evidence provided by the natives stays back relaxing in Enugu and only went to the area with policemen yesterday, Monday 25th, 2016, to
recover corpses of the dead.”
The rights group expressed concern that the spate of insecurity and human rights abuses which reached climax in the last 3 months has put the state under siege. “Since the departure of the
administration of Bar Sullivan Chime in May 2015, the spate of insecurity was alarming and the governor seems not to know what to do.
“The whole episode became more worrisome as the Labour Unions, Civil Society groups and other relevant pressure groups prefer to be appendages of the government due to monetary gains. This was evident in the defence of the state government by the state Labour Union (NLC) and Trade Union Congress over the Independent and Other Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Report, which indicted the Enugu State government of diversion of N6 billion Naira of the N10 billion naira Federal governments Bailout fund.
“We urge the state government and its’ officials to focus more on governance, improve the state of security in the state and stop all the praise singing jamboree /propaganda it has embarked upon in the past 11, months of this administration”, the statement reads.
