Human and Environmental Rights group, Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development, (FENRAD), has condemned the latest show of aerial power by the Nigeria Army at Orlu and Orsu local government areas of Imo State on the invitation of Governor Hope Uzodinma.
The Nigeria Army had carried out an aerial show of force in the region, allegedly to flush out Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and its Eastern Security Network, ESN.
Governor Uzodinma had confirmed inviting the soldiers to Orlu after members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) allegedly killed policemen and citizens.
The Imo Governor, who spoke through the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Cyprian Akaolisa, at a press briefing in Owerri, said the government discovered that there were deliberate attempts by IPOB to attack Orlu people and the government in the guise that they were looking for Fulani herdsmen.
But, FENRAD, stating its position in a statement jointly signed by its Executive Director, Nelson Nnanna Nwafor and Head Legal Team, Olusegun Bamgbose and issued to DAILY POST on Tuesday, berated the action of Governor Uzodinma and wondered if the state government knows the consequences of its action of inviting the army as it claimed.
The rights group cautioned Governor Uzodinma to make sure peace reigns in his charge or be willing to answer to the International Criminal Court.
According to the foundation’s statement, “Nigeria is drifting towards the brinks of insecurity with former Heads of State hinting earlier of either risking a civil war or disintegration if the killings are not tamed while governors like Hope Uzodinma see no danger not even with the writing clearly on the wall.
”Even the average student of foreign affairs need not be told that current happenings unfolding within the nation points to one direction – that need is now for a vertical rejig of security apparatuses and architecture in the federation with the locals being protected according to the milieux and ethos they are most familiar with.
”A system where one tier of government alone controls all security agencies even those of the paramilitary cannot be rightly considered a “federation” in the real sense. This means that localized and decentralized security outfits – even if not ESN – not only in the Southeast but the whole nation will serve better in the area of intelligence gathering and analysing if indeed Nigeria’s is to represent a true federation.
”This issue of state/community police, however, is not being pushed by Hope Uzodinma and other governors of the Southeast, unfortunately.
(Daily Post)
