Group berates IG over order to shoot Igbo Youths at sight…Condemned the killings of security officers and burning of public properties.

A human right outfit, Human Right Liberty Access and Defender’s (HURIDE) has come down heavily on the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IG), Usman Alkali Baba,  for ordering his men to shoot any Igbo Youths at sight.
The group in a statement made available to newsmen in Enugu,Enugu State, the South  Eastern Capital, said the order amount to justify the killing extra-judicially and people who may turn out to be Innocent.
They querried how do Policemen would know  IPOB or Eastern Security Network (ESN) members without proper extensive discreet intelligence work  and continued surveillance.
In the statement signed by the Executive Director of the rights group, Dede Uzor A Uzor, they querried the rationale of IG directing his men to shoot any Igbo Youths at sight without corresponding order on the Fulani Bandits and herdsmen  who have been terrorising, raping women, killing  Nigerians in every community in the country.
 They said this archaic order has led   to the killings of Innocent people in the South East and South South of the country.
Consequently, the  combined security operatives have intensified search for the alleged IPOB/ ESN members in different communities in South East and South South.
HURIDE, have carried out search in Onicha/Igbo -Eze Community in Ebonyi State, Owerri and adjoining communities in Imo State  as well as Porthacourt and environs, Burokiri  in Rivers State where  a lot of young people  have been sent to early graves.
HURIDE said uncomfirmed report reaching them indicated that the Military High Command has been moving ammunition to 24 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, Imo State which they intend to deploy against ESN and members of IPOB.
But the rights group asked how the security operatives will know  the members of IPOB/ ESN since there is no special identity for  them?
” They just want to kill innocent citizens of Igbo citizens in their pathological hatred for  for IPOB and ESN members.
But this method is unacceptable. The crude method will lead to violation of  people’s fundamental human rights”.
The rights group also wondered why the IG has not extended  the same order to Fulani Herdsmen and bandits who are wielding prohibited AK-47 Raffles, maiming, raping women, destroying farmland of indigenous communities of the country and outrightly killing them” the group said.
HURIDE said Police should engage in intelligence gathering, instead of the current crude manner they are deploying.
The rights group said: “The Police and other security agents should be professional in the way they are dealing with members of the public.They should be civil especially in the South East where they have become unfriendingly terror to the people.Their crude policing should stop and learn to be civil and friendly.
Our Police should imbibe the culture of civility, friendliness, respect for the rule of law”The group said this is not the era of extortion but unfortunately, the police have turned their campaign against IPOB/ ESN  into the “opportunity to enrich themselves and their superiors, extoting money and killing people extra-judicially with the  parade in Imo State few days ago where innocent passerby was allegedly arrested and tagged ESN members without any weapon.
However, they condemned in strongest terms  the act of  killing of Policemen and other security operatives by the unknown gun men.
The group said  under no circumstances should any group kill security operatives and burn police stations and offices belonging to government.
 “They should desist from such heinous crime because most of these officers killed are from Igbo extraction and they have families then it is atrocious for any Igboman to kill his fellow kinsmen.
He called on South East Governors to immediately organise emergency all stakeholders Security Summit (SSS) without further delay to address this security challenges” Dede Uzor warned.31st May 2021
Sent from my Huawei phone