EditorSouth East Governors
HUMAN Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has blasted governors of the South East of Nigeria over what it referred to as non-chalant attitudes to the abduction, detention of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
HURIWA said the governors are enemies of the people and not leaders.
The rights group condemned the inaction of the South East governors to the spate of the killings being carried out by armed Fulani herdsmen just as the group wondered why South East governors invited President Muhammadu Buhari to launch military strikes against the Eastern Security Network set up to confront invasion of South East by armed Fulani herdsmen but the governors deceived the people by promising to set up the Ebubeagu Security Network which for four months has not been captured by any legislation in the state legislative chambers of South East.
“It is a total act of betrayal that the governors of the South East maintained conspirational silence amidst allegations that President Buhari abducted Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya, subjected him to indignities in an illegal rendition and then forcefully repatriated him to Nigeria against norms of International law.”
“It is crude, primitive and wicked that the South East governors took no action to ascertain the veracity of the allegation of illegal abduction of a prominent Igbo son even if the governors are not in agreement just like most of us are with the advocacy for self determination in the South East of Nigeria,” HURIWA said in a press statement.
Citing a scholarly treatise on security by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), HURIWA agrees that security is critical to development just as it is true that political entities offering a better security to their peoples are the most attractive to investors.
The Rights group therefore condemned the political fraud perpetrated by the South East governors by promising to set up Ebubeagu Security Network but the same governors got the military from Abuja to crush the initiative by Igbo Youth called Eastern Security Network but has refused to activate alternative security mechanisms to confront the expanding frontiers of armed Fulani insurgency in the South East.
HURIWA recalled with indignation and utmost shock that the Southeast security outfit, Ebube Agu, failed to take off because the governors did not fund it, its founding chairman, Major-General Obi Abel Umahi (rtd), said on Monday.
Announcing his resignation as chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum (SGF) security committee, Umahi said the outfit was also not provided with an office. He tended his resignation in a June 4 letter entitled: “Resignation as Chairman Southeast Security Committee – Ebube Agu” and addressed to the SGF chairman and Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi.
HURIWA said the retired major-general was tasked with leading the outfit following its launch amid fanfare in April.
In the letter also copied to the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Prof George Obiozor and sighted by our correspondent, Umahi said his committee’s plans for the outfit were frustrated.
The letter reads in part: “Since this security committee was formed, we deliberated and agreed on ways to raise security consciousness down to the community level in Igboland, mode of operations, logistics and types of equipment required, such as drones, vehicles, etc. We also crafted the concept of Southeast security.
“I chaired a 21-man committee set up to draft a legal framework for the outfit. The committee was composed of members of the Southeast Security Committee, the attorney-generals of the five Southeast states and some prominent Igbo sons and daughters…
“On 11th April 2021, Southeast governors announced the formation of Ebube Agu in Owerri.
“Subsequently, the draft legal framework produced by the 21-man committee was reviewed by Southeast Security Committee members and the attorney-generals of the five states…
“From inception to date, Southeast Security Committee was never funded at all in any capacity and not even an office space was provided.
“At this juncture that Ebube Agu will soon come fully on-stream, I respectfully request that your excellencies kindly permit me to resign my appointment as the chairman, Southeast Security Committee.
“In the spirit of my love to serve Ndigbo, I can assure you that I will always be available to advise on the success of Ebube Agu at no cost, just as I served as the Chairman of Southeast Security Committee from 31 August 2019 till date at no cost directly or indirectly to the five Southeast state governments, groups and individuals.
“I highly appreciate your excellencies for the opportunity you gave me to serve Ndigbo”.
HURIWA then lamented that due to inertia and downright political fraud by South East Governors, the citizens of South East of Nigeria in such areas like Enugu and Ebonyi have just been bombarded by armed Fulani herdsmen and the military which crushed the Eastern Security Network purportedly under the unproven allegation that it was constituted to attack security institutions however these military forces failed to stop the incessant violence against the South East of Nigeria by armed Fulani attackers.
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