The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors of the Southeast States to take prompt action to forestall the massive bloodbath that may be unleashed should the Federal Government of Nigeria carry out its threats to take military action against groups standing in the way of the Anambra State governorship election in less than two weeks away.
HURIWA, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, at the weekend, said it was worried by the fact that up until today, there are no signs that the political leaders of the Southeast, including the Governors, National and state parliamentarians, traditional hierarchy, and cultural leaders haven’t activated dialogues mechanisms to mount effective pressure on President Buhari to opt for peaceful negotiations and stop his hardline and kinetic postures against members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The Rights Writers lamented that the governors of the South East, rather than being resolute, had committed to finding lasting solutions in the uproar between the IPOB and the Buhari administration and are behaving like giraffes by hiding their heads in the sands whilst Igboland is set ablaze.
It regretted that the governors aren’t bothered about possible conflicts that may mar the Anambra governorship election but are deeply concerned about how to take political power by all means by winning the Anambra governorship seat by hook or crook.
The Right group expressed consternation that since July that the leader of the IPOB was allegedly kidnapped by the Nigerian government from Kenya and brought back to Nigeria to continue his trial for an alleged treasonable felony for his role in championing the campaign for self-determination in the South East of Nigeria, the elected leaders of the Igbo speaking nationality have yet to concretely convinced the President to unban the IPOB and remove the erroneous tag of being a terrorist group slammed on the self-proclaimed unarmed IPOB.
HURIWA said instead of opting for peaceful negotiations and the adoption of non-kinetic steps by the federal government to douse the rising tension created by the detention of the leader of the IPOB Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Federal government and the South-East governors have largely adopted bellicose and confrontational military strategies to confront a situation that could’ve been resolved through peaceful and constructive means.
It said the recent moves by the federal government to Militarize Anambra state with the elections barely a few days away and the threat to call out the people of the South East of Nigeria on a week-long sit-at-home protest made by the IPOB is an unambiguous signal that the election in Anambra State would be characterised by bloodbath which is what the Rights group is asking all and sundry to avert.
The Rights group recalled that President Buhari had ordered a massive deployment of security agents in Anambra State to ensure peaceful conduct of the November 6 governorship election in the state.
Recall that President Buhari had directed security operatives to ensure that under no circumstances will anything be allowed to stop the elections from taking place successfully.
The police had on October 14 announced it would deploy 34,587 personnel to Anambra State to ensure peace during the poll even as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had earlier hinted that the federal government was considering imposing a state of emergency in Anambra to ensure peaceful conduct of the poll.
Also, the IPBO had declared a one-week sit-at-home protest across the South-East states, starting from November 5, the eve of the governorship election in Anambra State.
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