Juliana Francis
The Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, has condemned the gruesome killing of two soldiers in Imo State, expressing fear that innocent citizens would suffer if soldiers decided to carry out a reprisal.
According to Nwanguma: “We don’t understand how a normal, sane, right-thinking or clear headed individual or group will carry out such barbaric and atrocious acts of dehumanizing, subjecting to torture and butchering fellow humans, simply because they’re military personnel. It’s not justifiable. They are less than senseless beasts. It only exposes the irrationality of the perpetrators and exposes innocent citizens residing in the environment where that cruel act was committed to the danger of a reprisal which often follows.”
It will be recalled that the murdered couple, Audu Linus, a master warrant officer, and his partner, Gloria Mathew, a private, were on their way to the east for their traditional marriage when they were abducted by a suspected terrorist group in Imo State.
The woman was raped and then both were shot before being beheaded. The killers, while carrying out the act, video recorded the slaughtering and then uploaded it on social media, causing an outrage.
Nwanguma urged security forces to discretely and professionally identify, isolate and apprehend those responsible for appropriate action within the law.
He added: “We commiserate with the military and the families of the innocent victims and urge the military to resist the temptation to carry out a reprisal that will result in mass murder affecting innocent citizens who do not support the evil act.”
