Flays double standards for North, South
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the military to always go after killers of security operatives but spare the communities where the killings took place.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, stated this, yesterday, in reaction to the killing of soldiers in an ambush laid by terrorists in Shiroro, Niger State.
A similar incident had happened in Okuama, Delta, and the military responded by sacking the community. The rights group stated: “The military should always go after the killers of soldiers and not visit their anger on communities in Southern Nigeria where such terrorist attacks on soldiers occur. Are terrorists in the North less of the two evils when juxtaposed with their Southern counterparts or is there a secret the military hierarchy knows that we, the common people, do not know?
“While we condemn this reprehensible and unconstitutional act of killing soldiers, we are asking President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to ensure the enforcement of one universal rule of engagement and to compel the military to adhere strictly to one national rule of engagement, instead of reacting in different ways in Southern and Northern Nigeria when our officers and soldiers are unlawfully and wrongfully killed by terrorists.”
HURIWA stated that it observed that the military has two yardsticks for responding to attacks on soldiers when the South and North are concerned.It condemned the apparent double standards and demanded that the universal rule of engagement for internal military operations be applicable in every part of the country.
“When terrorists recently murdered some military officers in Okuama, we warned against the use of extrajudicial and revenge approach, but President Tinubu authorised the Army to go after the killers (but not to burn down Okuama). Instead of following the standard and legally prescribed approach of going after the suspected killers, Okuama was allegedly invaded, the residents made to flee into the bushes and there were alleged cases of extra-legal execution of innocent people in Okuama.
“Even the police commissioner in that state was allegedly not allowed access to the crime scenes in Okuama.”
