Sanction Military, Police, DSS Chiefs for intelligence failures leading to terrorist attacks- HURIWA

Oru Leonard 

Following the recent deadly attack by terrorists at the Confluence University of Science and Technology in Osara, Okene Kogi state and the findings by Amnesty International Nigeria that 1,336 people were killed in Plateau State between December 2023 and February 2024, foremost, civil Rights Advocacy group: Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked the President and Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces of the federation Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure accountability on the part of the security chiefs and ensure that heads of security agencies that failed to prevent the incessant terrorists attacks are sanctioned administratively for dereliction of duties.

In a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA stated that it is a huge shame that nobody has been made to face the music amongst the security heads in Nigeria even when insecurity has become persistent and the Rights group condemned the federal government for doing nothing to bring to justice or deliver decisive justice to the mass killers and terrorists who are waging unrelenting campaigns of bloodshed in Plateau State include the massacres of over 200 persons during last year’s Christmas eve.

HURIWA stated that: “It is a crime against humanity on the part of the government officials at the centre especially the military chiefs, police chiefs, DSS, that citizens are slaughtered on uncountable times but the military Generals have allowed these attacks to continue”.

“We are therefore not shocked with the findings of Amnesty International which stated in a report that 1,336 citizens of Plateau state have died from the violence unleashed by terrorists and armed Fulani militants this year alone. The organisation known as Amnesty International also said the figures were basically from Mangu, Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of the state.”

“We in HURIWA are happy that Amnesty International similarly stated rightly that those with responsibility of protecting lives and property must be held to account and special attention be paid to how the conflict affects children. We in HURIWA are calling for action by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to punish the military Generals who failed to curb these terror attacks.”

The Rights group also condemned the invasion by terrorists bandits of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTEC), Osara, Okene in Kogi, and abducted some students.

HURIWA recalled that an eye witness account indicated that the bandits swooped on the university around 9.00 p.m. on Thursday while the students were reading for their upcoming exams.

The source said that the bandits came in through the bush, went into three lecture halls and began to shoot into the air to scare the students.

“They trapped the students inside the halls and started taking them; the school was thrown into total confusion as fear-stricken students in other halls scurried to safety, scampering in various directions.

“By the time local security guards and the conventional security men at the gate engaged the bandits, they had already succeeded in abducting some students.

“But the efforts minimised the damage as the attackers didn’t go beyond the first three halls,” the source said.

According to the source, the students were preparing for their first semester examination expected to commence on Monday, May 13, when the bandits struck.

A student, who craved anonymity, said that he and some colleagues ran to the bush and hid there for “more than an hour”.

“We only ventured out when everywhere became quiet,” he said.

Contacted, CUSTEC Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdulraman Asipita, confirmed the incident but refused to give details of the number of students abducted.

“I don’t talk to journalists on incidents like this, but I want you to know that we are on top of the situation,” he said.

HURIWA is therefore restating our call on the President to stop the present lackadaisical attitude of tolerating failures on the part of his security chiefs and other Commanders including the state directors of DSS, Commissioners of Police and the IGP, whose colossal collective dereliction of duties give way to the incessant terrorists attacks in different parts of Nigeria. We condemn the abduction of these innocent students of this University in Okene Kogi state and we implore the relevant authorities to ensure the swift rescue of these hostages and for the government to sanction officials who can’t enforce their functions to defend the soft targets such as schools from the unceasing violent terrorism of these mass killers.