The Human Rights, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’Foundation (HURIDE), has asked Governor Nyeso Wike of Rivers State and the governor of Lagos State Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu to immediately resign over wanton killings of unarmed youths and protesters in their States.
HURIDE also urged the Federal Government and the Nigerrian Army to stop further massacre of Igbo youth in Onyigbo (Obigbo) Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), HURIDE, Dede Uzor A Uzor, in a press conference called on Governor Wike and the Army to immedistely withdraw soldiers who have been committing cold murder in Obigbo.
Dede Uzor said Wike’s alibi that he did not send the Army to kill Igbo youth fell like a pack of card in the face of the fact that he invited the Army to Obigbo where about six soldiers were allegedly killed during the protest that turned violence.
His motive, the group said , for the invitation was obvious to mass kill the Igbo youths in Obigbo Local Government.
He querried if IPOB members have anything to identify them except that they are young and Ndigbos. ” Therefore when he invited the Army which is itching for revenge to deal with IPOB members the motive was clear, to kill Igbo youth in mass.
They have clear mandate to allegedly kill Igbo youths in Rivers State” said Dede Uzor.
He described as reprehensible and despicable the decision to send soldiers to quell a supposedly civil matters, instead of confronting the Boko Haram, bandits and Fulani Herdsmen who seemed to have defied the Nigerrian Army.
The role of the military, said Dede Uzor, is to protect the territorial intergrity of the nation by warding off external agression, not to deploy them to kill defenceless and armless youth of Obigbo in the name of searching for IPOB members.
He said that Nigerrians are yet to recover from the the bloody murder of Nigerian youths at Lekki toll gate by some people believed to be Nigerrian soldiers, then another muderous detachment was sent to Obigbo to kill the youth.
“This is unacceptable under a democratic set up. This can only happen in Nigeria. Under former President Olusegun Obasanjo troops were sent to Odi in Rivers State and Zak Ibiam in Benue’ State, where they wasted hundreds of human lives.. It is only in Nigeria that troops are sent to kill innocent and defenceless citizens” Dede Uzor said.
He argued that IPOB members do not carry identification , neither do they put on uniform, how then did they find out it was IPOB members who killed, burnt and looted in Rivers State and they were from Obigbo.
“Wike should explain to Nigerians and international community how he was sure that the youths he is killing in Obigbo were the ones that killed in Rivers and IPOB members were indeed behind the killings of soldiers in the State” he said.
” If IPOB members were responsible for the killngs and arson in Rivers, who were responsible for the killngs and destruction in other parts of the country like Edo State, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Anambra, Lagos, Oyo and other States in the country” he querried.
HURIDE boss said Wike’s alleged desperation for the Vice-President of Nigeria is deriving him to please his new masters, the oligarchy but should not make him to sacrifice Igbo youths at the altar of his ambition.
The chairman called on international coommunity, UN, European Union (EU), AU, ECOWAS, the Presidemt of US, British Prime Minister, Russian Presidemt, Chinese Presidemt, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,Intersocity among others to come to the rescue of Igbo youths in Rivers State particularly in Obigbo as well as probe the killings in Lekki and Obigbo.
He also called on International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate all these killings and bring the pepetrators to book so as to serve as deterrents to others,Dede Uzor cautioned.
