Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described as ‘unacceptable’ the silence of the Federal Government on recovery of over 50 decomposing bodies found in a forest in Abia State.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement yesterday, noted that the silence and the failure of the Federal government to take steps to initiate forensic investigations of the crimes of mass killings of citizens of Nigeria, highlight the President’s moral duty of care and the legal obligations imposed on the government to maintain law and order.
Onwubiko said aside the moral and legal obligations on President Bola Tinubu to ensure the safety of citizens, the Commander-in-Chief demonstrated a failure of intelligence and abysmal failure on the part of the security forces under the direct command and control of the President to secure lives and property of Nigerians and everyone living in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“On 30th October 2023 it was reported that the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, had disclosed that 20 decomposing bodies and skeletons were discovered by security operatives during a raid of forests around the Lokpanta Cattle Market in the Umunneochi axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway even as he said another 50 bodies were also found around the market, while the payment of ransom to suspected kidnappers was equally traced to the market,” he said.
He applauded the Abia State government for adopting a holistic measure to stamp out coordinated criminality and terrorism of kidnappers and killings orchestrated by alleged armed herders.
He asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the heads of the security agencies and top forensic investigators in joint partnership with the justice ministry of Abia state, to comb round the killing fields identified by the Abia State government and carry out science-led probe to determine the remote and immediate causes of these mass killings, seek for broader information on the identities of the casualties and if practicable trace any evidence that can link the investigative team to the killers.
