…..HURIWA wants a state of emergency declared in Kwara state
Demanding the immediate release by the federal government of Nigeria of the 176 citizens violently abducted by terrorists from Kwara state, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a state of emergency to effectively implement holistic security measures to crush the terrorists that have invaded many rural areas of Kwara state.
The Rights group argued that governance has invariably collapsed in Kwara state which is characterised by cocktails of bloodbath and clearly the Kwara State governor doesn’t have what it takes to protect his people.
“Isn’t it a big shame that the Kwara State government allegedly claimed that only few citizens were kidnapped whereas the terrorists have reportedly played video evidence to disprove this poor propaganda put up by Kwara state government and these terrorists have claimed based on video evidence that over 176 citizens were violently kidnapped by terrorists? Are government officials both in Kwara and the federal government of Nigeria not ashamed that terrorists are operating freely wherever they chose to operate in Nigeria? This is tragically shameful.
HURIWA quoting media report alleged that suspected Boko Haram terrorists, formally known as Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, have circulated a disturbing video showing 176 abducted victims — including women, children and a nursing mother — allegedly taken from Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
HURIWA reacted thus: “It is so unfortunate and disgraceful that the Kwara State governor has demonstrated a lack of ideas and zero knowledge of any sort of workable modalities, strategic approaches and efficient measures to protect the good people of Kwara state. The truth is that there is no functional government right now in Kwara state.
“With the killings of over 300 citizens this year alone in Kwara state, we think it is time that President Tinubu should impose a state of emergency and put security infrastructure in place to decimate, degrade and destroy the terrorists. The most important task for President Tinubu is to ensure the safe return of the 176 citizens kidnapped by terrorists and are being kept in intolerable situation of emotional, psychological and cruel physical torture by the terrorists. “We demand that the mass murderers and terrorists must never be allowed to go without facing the wrath of the law if Nigeria is not a failed state. Only in a failed state can you see terrorists kill citizens at will and no kind of justice is imposed to punish the killers of citizens.”
HURIWA recalled that not a person was killed in Rivers state before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu imposed a state of emergency leading to the illegal suspension of the governor and Rivers state House of Assembly for 6 months which some incompetent and pliant justices of the supreme Court of Nigeria okayed. So the situation is long overdue for a declaration of security emergency in Kwara state.”
HURIWA cited media report as saying that in the video, one of the terrorists is seen interrogating the captives, asking them to state where they were kidnapped.
Responding in Hausa language, three women, including a nursing mother, answered one after the other that they were abducted at Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The footage shows dozens of women and children arranged in rows, many appearing visibly distressed. Their clothing looked dirty and worn, while some of the children were seen without trousers, suggesting the harsh conditions in which they are being held.
During the display of the captives, one of the terrorists accused the Kwara State government of misleading Nigerians and the international community about the scale of the abduction.
According to the terrorist in the video, the state government claimed that only between 20 and 30 people were kidnapped, whereas he insisted that 176 victims were in their custody.
“The Kwara State government lied to Nigeria and to the whole world,” the terrorist alleged, insisting that the number of abducted persons was far higher than officially acknowledged.
In a media statement on Saturday, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the National Coordinator of HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) called for the swift rescue of the captured Nigerians by the federal government of Nigeria and for concrete steps to be adopted to put to an end the constant bloodshed in Kwara state.
HURIWA lamented that the president of Nigeria is being allowed to violate his constitutional oath of office which obliges him to primarily protect the lives and property of the citizens. “Protecting lives and property of the good people of Nigeria is the fundamental legal obligation of the government and consistent failures to arrest the tides of cruel killings in massive scale of citizens by terrorists and armed non-state actors in Nigeria is absolutely appalling, despicable and condemnable.”
