A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Wednesday, condemned Tuesday’s attack by gunmen on United States Embassy staff convoy in the Amiyi/Eke Ochuche communities of Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State where four persons were killed by the assailants.

The group also expressed shock over the death of three persons in accident involving the convoy of Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. Dave Umahia, on Monday.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, tasked security agencies to bring the perpetrators to book.

The United States Embassy staff were on a humanitarian mission in the state before they were ruthlessly shot dead in an ambush by dastard gunmen overrunning the South-East geopolitical zone for years now. HURIWA said although no US citizen was killed, those killed were nationalities of other nations or even Nigeria, including the policemen and so the USA should think of imposing travel ban on the governors of the South East of Nigeria to compel them to act swiftly to end the mindless orgies of dastardly attacks and bloodshed in Igboland.

Local sources in the area recounted how the assailants brazenly ambushed the victims, opening fire without hesitation. Panic engulfed the community as the attackers disrupted a gathering of residents eagerly awaiting medical assistance from UNICEF officials.

Both the Police and US authorities have said that no American was hurt or killed in the ambush.

The statement reads in part: “The attack on and killing of US Consulate staffers in Anambra State on Monday, May 16, 2023 is shameful and a national disgrace to Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari under whose watch kidnapping and violent killings by armed marauders have skyrocketed to an unimaginable and shocking height.

“This is condemnable and our security agencies must do all possible to bring the perpetrators to book.”

HURIWA also blasted the Anambra State Police Command for lacking actionable and for displaying crass ignorance when the Spokesperson of the Command reportedly blamed the US Embassy for sending a medical mission without prior information to the Anambra Police Command.

According to the group, “This crass ignorance demonstrates that almost all the Police Commands in the South East of Nigeria and, especially in Anambra State, have got no functional intelligence generating mechanisms because, for instance, the Police in Anambra State ought to have known that a US Embassy medical mission arrived in Anambra State and then, suo moto, provide fool-proof security services.

“But because professionalism and discipline in the Police is at the lowest ebb, the Police sat back in their offices and were expecting notification just as the many junior operatives manning all kinds of road blocks in Anambra State, would have been very busy extorting motorists so much so that they didn't record that a US mission arrived.

HURIWA also expressed shock that no fewer than three persons who are indigenes of Ezza South Local Government Area, on Tuesday lost their lives after the convoy of Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, rammed into their motorcycle.

HURIWA said media reports stated that the victims were on Muhammadu Buhari’s International Airport road when an advance team rammed into them.

It was gathered that the convoy had dropped Umahi at the airport located at Onueke, and was returning to town when the incident happened.

It was reported that the accident occurred shortly after the commissioning of a flyover at Abaomege in Onicha Local Government Area which was named after Prince Arthur Eze.

The flyover was commissioned by Prince Arthur Eze, together with the Governor Umahi.

It was gathered that the governor left for Abuja shortly after the commissioning ceremony.

Prince Arthur Eze and the state deputy governor, Eric Kelechi Igwe, however, stepped down at the accident scene and condoled with the families of the victims and directed that the victims be rushed to hospital, then zoomed off to Enugu State.

The motorcycle belonging to the victims and the Sienna involved were destroyed beyond repair, though their names and the registration number of the ill-fated vehicle is yet to be identified at the time of filing this report.

HURIWA encouraged civil rights bodies in the South Estate to assist the families of those killed by way of filing cases at the Federal High Court against the state.

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