Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has tackled the Federal Government and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, for letting the Plateau Christmas Eve killers go unpunished.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said as the chief law enforcement officer of the federation, Egbetokun “has a legal responsibility” to inform Nigerians on the identities and number of suspected perpetrators of the crime that had been charged to court and publish the particulars of the charges.
The group stated, yesterday: “We are concerned that the police and other security forces may simply fail to follow up and carry out evidence-based investigations to generate top-rated convincing and unimpeachable evidence to convict the killers, who slaughtered Plateau natives in their numbers and, thereby, undermined the rule of law.
“The recent court order freeing 313 terrorists in Borno State, based on tardiness on the part of the prosecution team, has become the usual methodology of the nation’s law enforcement operators, thereby undermining the constitution and letting mass killers continue to enjoy freedom and probably carry out more attacks.”
HURIWA said the demand for public disclosure and accountability was informed by the scandalous contradictory media statements by the police, since the dastardly criminal act of terrorism happened in well over 17 communities of Plateau, creating doubts and uncertainty in the minds of Nigerians regarding what exactly the law enforcement agencies had done to apprehend the terrorists.
On January 10, 2024, it was reported that the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Department Tactical Teams paraded 67 suspects arrested for various crimes, ranging from kidnapping, gunrunning, one-chance robbery, armed robbery, and banditry across the country. Among them were three arrested in connection with the Christmas Eve attack on 15 Plateau villages, in which over 150 persons were killed and about 221 houses razed, leading to the displacement of over 10,000 residents.
Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, identified the three suspects as Ahmed Sulaimon, Balikisu Aliyu and Aboki Samuel. He said the police recovered from them AK-47 rifle, AK-49 rifle, 1,000 rounds of live ammunition and five magazines.
HURIWA warned that any attempt to hide the information on the suspected killers of Plateau natives on Christmas Eve would amount to impunity and lawlessness, which Nigerians should absolutely deprecate and then insist that justice be done to the victims and survivors of those coordinated mass killings in Plateau.
