It’s sad soldiers who should fight Kaduna terrorists are protecting Fulani cows in Ondo – CSO

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria,(HURIWA) on Wednesday, said it is very unfortunate that soldiers who should be deployed to confront savage terrorists overrunning Kaduna State are wasting away in Ondo State, protecting Fulani cows.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, described as a blatant misplacement of priority, the deployment of soldiers in the entire Southern region of Nigeria including the South-West and South-East zones for purposes such as protection of herders and their cattle.

The group urged the military authorities to recall a sizeable percentage of troops posted to Southern Nigeria and redeploy them to Kaduna to combat bloodthirsty terrorists who have daily invaded the North-West state in the last two weeks, wreaking unprintable havoc including ghoulish killings, bombings and kidnappings.

According to news reports, terrorists killed 17 soldiers and wounded 40 others in an attack at a military base in Polwire, Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna this week. This was barely a week after the marauders bombed an Abuja-Kaduna train, killing scores and injuring hundreds while many are still unaccounted for. 

The insurgents numbering over 200 had also invaded the Kaduna International Airport, killed an airspace worker and injured many other airport staff, even as they forced a plane from taking off from the airport. Many pockets of gruesome and macabre attacks have been recorded in the last two weeks in Kaduna. The death toll emanating from Kaduna in the last two years is concerning with over 2,000 murdered and over 5,000 killed by terrorists hitherto labelled bandits.

But just as the terrorists are unfortunately overrunning Kaduna, classified a war zone by Governor Nasir el-Rufai and presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, men of the 32 Artillery Brigade of the Nigeria Army, Akure are gallivanting in Ondo, demanding the release of Fulani cows seized by the Ondo State Security Network Agency also known as Amotekun Corps for violating the state anti-open grazing law.

Reacting in the statement released on Wednesday, HURIWA’s Onwubiko described the deployment of soldiers in relatively peaceful states of Southern Nigeria as a misplacement of priority.

Onwubiko said, “It is an established fact that Kaduna State is a war zone going by the carnage committed by terrorists in the last two weeks, especially and going by the description of Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai; as well as presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina. 

“The onslaught by audacious terrorists is unprecedented in the entire North-West and akin to the Boko Haram/ISWAP ferocious attacks in the North-East.

“However, instead of deploying most of its men to the theatre of war to stamp out terrorists overrunning Kaduna State and having a field’s day, the Nigerian Army, sadly, is more concerned about the safety of trespassing cows than the thousands of innocent Nigerians killed by insurgents in Kaduna State month in, month out. This is most unfortunate.

“This sort of misplacement of priority abound in media reports of the past seven years because the Federal Government in Abuja elevated cows to a sacred position far above the sanctity of life. This is why the combat readiness of soldiers are declining because they are being deployed for roles they are unsuited for due to selfish reasons. This is indeed why rampaging Fulani terrorists are killing soldiers and bombing down military jets and nobody is called to account.

“HURIWA urges the service chiefs to face reality and put away ethnic sentiments. Kaduna needs all the soldiers that the military can muster now. War, aside weapon sophistry, is also about numerical strength. Apparently, the terrorists are recruiting en masse. For 200 terrorists to invade an airport at once? Who knows how many hundreds of them bombed the Abuja-Kaduna train, amongst other vicious attacks. The service chiefs should act fast and deploy soldiers lagging away in Southern Nigeria to Kaduna, the new theatre of war in Nigeria. The earlier the better. A word is enough for the wise, the elders say.” 

Aprll 6, 2022

Emmanuel Onwubiko

National Coordinator – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).

It’s buffoonery to talk about expelling a civil society leader: HURIWA

A bunch of apparently jobless clowns some of whom are surviving by jumping from one government office to the other on a rampage to capture as much as possible the crumbs that fall off the masters table in Abuja, have just issued a very illiterate statement that is so illogical and irrational saying that my humble self has been expelled from a so-called civil society coalition.
They said their reason for “expelling” me is because I criticized Mr. Godwin Emefiele the CBN GOVERNOR for allegedly meddling into partisan politics. The views I gave were published in PUNCH Newspaper. 
At first the entire statement published in a section of the media sounded comical and unreasonably dramatic because it is inconceivable that any thinking being can conjure up this sort of baseless and meaningless publication that is groundless and is baseless and bears no resemblance to critical thinking that someone can actually come up with such a drab statement. 
At first, I never wanted to honour such an illogical statement with a response because it is self-evident that the writer or writers is/are embarking on an adventure of intellectual idiocy. 
How do you expel a citizen from the civil society? Assuming without conceding that the contraption that was elevated to a scale of a pseudo platform do actually exists in the imagination of the writer, a follow up question to ask is this, can you expel an entity or an individual that is not affiliated or connected in anyway to you? Can you remove what you never constituted? 
We are only doing this response so that the writer (s) does/do not benefit more from this show of shame that is as unrealistic as it is impracticable. Nigerians should dismiss this as fallacious and unreasonable. 
 Recall that in a publication, a group identifying itself as the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) under the aegis of the CSOs Coordinating Center (CCC), have expelled the Convener, Adopt A Goal Initiative, Dare Ariyo-Atoye; Coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, Emmanuel Onwubiko; and the National Coordinator, Advocate for People’s Rights and Justice, Giwa Victor.
 
The reason for expelling them, according to the group, was their attack on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
 
The Centre’s Director, Mallam Abubakar Mohammed, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said that they were motivated “to smear Emefiele and expel them from activities of the CSOs Coordinating Center, which is an apex platform for all CSOs involved in public advocacy and ban them from attending any event that the CCC is part of for one year until they apologise for the smear attacks.
According to the statement, Mohammed said we hope they will retrace their steps.”
Mohammed further raised alarm over plans by some desperate politicians to continue to sponsor some CSOs to embark on ceaseless campaigns of calumny against their perceived opponents ahead of the 2023 general elections.
 
He said: “Part of the strategy is to enlist some unsuspecting sections of the media into a plot to continue to blackmail and ridicule their opponents by whipping some sentiments against them.”
 
Mohammed noted that one of such perceived opponents, who have been marked by desperate politicians with the aim of pulling him down in the media is Emefiele.
 
Mohammed said: “We, members of the CSOs Coordinating Centre, also expressed our confidence in Dr Emefiele’s leadership of the apex bank and positive achievements being recorded under his watch.” 
The National Coordinator of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) is by this rebuttal is informing members of the public that tjese bunch of persons are unknown to the critical section of the organised civil rights community in Nigeria and should not be accorded any level of attention. 

Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko:
National Coordinator:
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). APRIL 5TH 2022. 

Group accuses EFCC of ethnic profiling against Igbo:

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Tuesday, expressed profound trepidation and worry that a lot of critical minded members of the public in Southerm Nigeria have accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of ethnic profiling against Igbo notable sons in the last few months.

HURIWA also strongly recommend to the hierarchy of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to adopt transparent and accountable methodology of operation irrespective of whether it is Northern or Southern Nigeria so they are not permanently perceived as a group of people who have deviated from the time honoured and time tested mandates of anti -corruption crusade devoid of Ethnic or religious profiling. 

“The idea that whenever Igbo youths may be due to exuberance are shown on videos to appear to be spraying HUMONGUOS amount of cash at social or religious functions such as funeral rites or weddings, the next day the principal characters seen in the videos who are Igbos are profiled and arrested at the airport or just somewhere and the next day the newspapers are awash with propaganda demonising the arrested citizens of South East origin. But the same EFCC officials are never seen arresting or profiling Northern youths similarly captured during high profile social or religious functions like the weddings of Sons of prominent Northern politicians who obviously treated like sacred cows”. 

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the field officers of the anti-graft agency under the leadership of Abdulrasheed Bawa must be probed for allegedly picking up innocent Nigerians in Gestapo style, sometimes in the middle of the night, after invading their residences and hotels.

The group described as witch hunt, the arrest and humiliation of popular socialite, Pascal Okechukwu, known better as Cubana Chief Priest; his associate, Obinna Iyiegbu, known as Obi Cubana; ex-Anambra State governor, Willie Obiano; amongst other prominent sons of Ndigbo locked up on unproven allegations of tax fraud and money laundering whereas suspects of Northern origin even hitherto charged to courts for alleged heist of billions of public fund are suddenly left off the hooks and progressively railroaded into influential national political offices only because of their Ethnic affiliations with those presently wielding political powers in Abuja.

Reacting, HURIWA’s Onwubiko urged the EFCC under Bawa to thread softly and carefully, and quit launching attacks on prosperous Igbo sons. HURIWA thinks the EFCC should operate within the confines of the law so Nigerians will.be able to know when armed robbers have struck. 

“The indiscriminate arrests of Igbo notable sons by overzealous and discretion-less EFCC operative is worrisome. The show of shame  and commando-like raids being branded as legitimate operations that is a pastime of EFCC agents was aptly captured in a PUNCH Editorial dated September 1, 2021 (https://punchng.com/efccs-gestapo-raids-on-hotels-residences/).

“The earlier the EFCC comply with rules of engagement and desist from ethnic profiling of the Igbo the better. Also, the anti-graft agency should investigate its field officials who are alleged to be extorting school children by arresting, detaining and forcing them to part with a lot of money. 

“In as much as we condemn advanced fee fraud, we condemn any activity of the EFCC that is deemed inimical to constitutional democracy and norms and principles of rule of law and due process.”

Aprll 5, 2022

Emmanuel Onwubiko

National Coordinator – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).