Victor Ezeja
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) has urged members of the public not give the murder of an indigene of Adamawa State, Harira Jibril and her four children by gunmen in Anambra State an ethnic interpretation.
The Civil rights advocacy group in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko on Wednesday condemned the gruesome killing which happened during the last weekend.
It said security agents should go after the perpetrators of the heinous crimes in different parts of the country such as, Borno, Katsina and Anambra States.
The group, however, warned that the killing of the married Adamawa woman who had reportedly lived all her life in Anambra State should not be ethnicised or politicised by fifth columnists who always want to trigger violent inter-tribal and inter-religious conflicts.
HURIWA said criminals are callous bastards who don’t differentiate their targets as they have also killed many Anambra indigenes and South-Easterners.
It listed the Anambra lawmaker Hon. Okechukwu Okoye who was recently beheaded criminals; and also the two soldiers, Master Warrant Officer Audu Linus (retired) and Private Gloria Matthew, from Imo State, who were also beheaded on April 30, 2022, days to their traditional wedding, and a couple of other killings in the state and the entire South-East which have noting to do with where they come from.
Reacting to the incident, HURIWA’s national coordinator, Onwubiko said, “There are scores of killings of Igbos in the South-East by the same rampaging gunmen.
“The killing of Harira Jibril and her kids are condemnable and unjustifiable. We, at HURIWA, condemn it in the strongest term and urge security agents to fish out the perpetrators regardless of who they are or their motives.
“However, HURIWA will want to alert the public not to allow fifth columnists and mischievous characters not to twist the incident and give it an ethnic coloration which is not true as the vicious gunmen have killed numerous Igbo sons and daughters even recently.
“The terrorism in the north and the fresh killings of over 65 farmers in Katsina and Borno states are not different from the killings in the South-West, the South-South, Anambra and the other four states in the South-East plagued by insecurity.
“The truth is that terror has been unleashed on Nigeria and Nigerians and government at the top most levels in Abuja is silent, in bed with the terrorists or lack the wherewithal to confront these marauders.
“Nigeria is facing a pure terrorism war and not an ethno-religious conflict.
“There is no ethnic agenda in the Anambra violence because if those saying so are not agents of destabilisation, what will they say is the agenda of ISWAP killing Borno people and Fulani terrorists killing Hausas in Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara and Niger State? People must stop reading ethnoreligious meaning into the pure terrorism happening against Igboland by yet to be determined set of persons with the agenda of setting one part of the country against the other.
HURIWA urged the Governors of Northern States to ensure that all citizens from all parts of Nigeria living amongst them are not harmed in any way.
The rights group called on political and religious leaders to call their people to order against issuing threats of reprisal attack in any form and also sensitize them that criminality has no tribe.
“Nigeria cannot afford an ethno-religious war amid an insurgency. Security agents must crush the terrorists killing innocent Nigerians like chickens,” it added.
ISAP Killings In Borno and Katsina
HURIWA also condemned the killings of 50 young boys in Ran Borno State by ISAP and 12 persons in Katsina by Fulani terrorists.
The rights group urged the Federal Government to take decisive step in tackling security crisis ravaging different parts of the country.
