The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned “as unwarranted and a primitive crime against humanity,” the reported killing of three Fulani herdsmen by unidentified armed militia in Egume, Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, at the weekend, following early morning invasion of a Fulani settlement.

HURIWA blamed the escalating spectre of bloodshed and wanton violence to the inability and unwillingness of the Federal Government since the past five years to holistically confront the widening spectre of blood cuddling violence by armed Fulani herdsmen which have largely targeted farming communities leading to the killing of undetermined number of land owners who are usually displaced.

The rights group said Nigeria stands the risk of witnessing large-scale revenge killings targeting mostly innocent Fulani because of the illegality and the bloody violence unleashed on farming communities all over Nigeria without the Federal government doing anything under the law to arrest, prosecute and punish the armed Fulani herdsmen and their sponsors and supporters in and out of government circles.

HURIWA therefore pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to behave like the President of all of Nigeria and fish out all the mass killers and prosecute them in accordance with the rule of law.

The rights group said the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has in the past few months paraded many of these armed marauders and Fulani herdsmen responsible for the spate of killings but regrettably these suspects are not properly charged before the competent court of law in line with the constitutional stipulations.

HURIWA also called on the 36 states governors to ensure that the sanctity of the two week's ban on inter-state travels is maintained adding that the influx of old men disguised as Almajirai from northern states to the South is ominous particularly at a time when inter-state travels are banned by the Quarantine Act of 1926 as proclaimed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

HURIWA said it believes that the influx of adults from some Northern states to the South is a game plan by haters of peace to plant instability in the South that has relatively remained insulated from the self destructive violence unleashed on innocent people in the North of Nigeria.

“These adults hiding in trailers and trucks being exported like goods to the South are trained bandits who are heading to the South to replicate the killings that innocent people are facing in such places as Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto. The Southern and Northern governors must stop these grave threats to national security. The real Almajiri children displaced from streets of northern Nigeria must be resettled and reintegrated with their biological parents because every Almajiri child has a biological parent.”

HURIWA commiserated with the families of the Kogi Fulani settlers whose loved ones were needlessly massacred and charged the Kogi State Governor and President Buhari to sit up and provide the leadership needed for the heads of the various security forces to rise to the occasion and meet with the constitutional responsibility of preventing mass killings and arresting and prosecuting mass killers before the competent courts of law in line with section 6 of the Constitution. HURIWA said compliance with Section 6 is sacrosanct because offenders if allowed to continue to unleash violence could be interpreted to mean that government permits impunity and lawlessness which are antithetical to constitutional democracy.

HURIWA also condemned the Federal and the Adamawa State Governments for standing by and watching as six people were killed in ethnic violence in Adamawa state without the police command, the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and other security forces not being able to forestall this deadly upheavals that lasted for hours as if Nigeria has entered a season of absolute anarchy.

HURIWA said: “Big shame to the Adamawa State police command that it is now parroting the reason for the conflicts and has failed to deploy their skills, and resources to either stop it from happening or decisively bringing it to an end and arresting all the masterminds and sponsors of such a needless violence.

“Imagine that a police force established to enforce law and order is now busy telling tales about the conflicts that blew up in their very before and the police is only just stating that it was an ethnic violence which started following a disagreement between the Hausa community and the Chabo tribe, after a tricycle accident. What a scandal. The police command and all other Security forces on ground that allowed themselves to be overwhelmed by this inter-ethnic conflict have lost their moral high ground to remain in offices in that state.”

HURIWA asked President Buhari to activate effective mechanisms for nipping in the bud these many wanton killings by armed hoodlums and armed Fulani herdsmen just as the Rights group said it was unacceptable that the spate of killings have become so widespread under the watch of the current administration and all that Nigerians kept hearing are empty rhetoric and theatrics from President Buhari even as the officials designated to prevent the killings and spearhead the prosecution of these mass killers are behaving like they are sacred cows who can’t be sanctioned for failing to carry out their legal obligations to the good people of Nigeria.

“Why will the IGP the Director-General of the DSS still be doing in their respective offices when the incidence of mass killings keep escalating by the day and thousands of innocent Nigerians are killed?” HURIWA asked.

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