Juliana Francis
Members of some civil society organisations have written a petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), demanding an investigation into the human rights violations happening in the southeast region of Nigeria.
According to the group, it was alarmed by frequent incidents of organised attacks, killings, extortion, sexual violence, and destruction of property in the Southeast, portending far-reaching human rights violations.
The group noted that it was because this these human rights violations, that it felt compelled to call on the NHRC to deploy all necessary instruments available to it, which may include the appointment of a Special Investigation, to inquire into these incidents.
It further stated: “We are concerned by the oppressive atmosphere of siege, impunity and fear partly engendered by the federal government’s single narrative that narrows insecurity in the southeast almost exclusively to the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
“This single narrative explains why the federal government ignores other drivers and dimensions of insecurity and the need for a holistic and multidimensional approach.
“It also informs federal government’s tendency to solely deploy force in its response to insecurity, and its neglect of community engagement and dialogue, as well as addressing the socio-economic and political root causes and drivers of crime and insecurity.
“This approach has contributed to escalating insecurity, fuelling the cycle of violence and resulting in gross human rights violations. The federal government’s penchant for deploying ‘special military operations’ such as ‘’Operation Egwu Eke-Python dance,’ Operation Crocodile Smile, as well as a special police operation, ‘Operation Restore Peace’ for the southeast underscores this narrative and its shortcomings.”
The group recalled that while launching the special police operation in Enugu in 2021, the then Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, directed police officers thus: ‘Don’t mind the media shout; do the job I command you. If anyone accuses you of human rights violation, the report will come to my table and you know what I will do. So, take the battle to them wherever they are and kill them all. Don’t wait for an order.’
The group further said that IGP in issuing that reckless directive said it complied with President Buhari’s previous ‘’shoot-on-sight’’ order issued to security forces against IPOB.
The group opined that the outcome of these orders had been a floodgate of mass raids and indiscriminate arrests and detention in inhuman and degrading conditions; torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.
“There are also indications that security agents exploit the opportunity for self-enrichment, including extortion of huge sums of money from family members of detained victims. The ubiquity and widespread presence of security checkpoints along all interstate highways and inner city roads across states in the southeast contribute to the atmosphere of militarisation, siege and shrinking civic space,” said the group.
Among CSOs that signed the petition is Okechukwu Nwanguma for Rule od of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Lagos, Emeka Nwanevu for Initiative for Public Safety, Security and Educational Development in Nigeria (IPSSED Network), Enugu, Onyinyechi Joy Nwosu for Vivacious Development Initiative (VIDI), Abia State, Chuka Okoye: CEHRAWS, Abia State, Comrade Nelson Nnanna Nwafor for Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development FENRAD Nigeria Abia State, Nnaemeka Onyejiuwa for CCIDESOR, Owerri Imo State, Obialunanma Nnaobi-Ayodele Meluibe Foundation, Abuja, Alliance for Inclusive Development-AidAfrica, Abuja and African Law Foundation (AFRILAW), Enugu.
