. . . Urges Buhari to declare Miyetti Allah Cattle Dealers Association a terrorist group

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has strongly condemned the frequent “terrorist attacks” launched by elements suspected to “armed Fulani militia and terrorists” targeting parts of Enugu State.

The group also wants President Muhammadu Buhari to declare Miyetti Allah Cattle Dealers Association a terrorist group.

HURIWA claimed that these incessant attacks in several parts of South East which have led to deaths of hundreds of Igbo people were meant to provoke civil unrest in the country.

Aside from calling on the Inspector General of Police, the Army Chief of Staff and the rest of the Service Chiefs, including the Chief of Defense Staff, to halt these incessant attacks by armed terrorists, the Rights group also suggested that the South East Region must activate broad-based and regional wide strategic security framework for efficiency and effectiveness to secure her people from external aggressors and internal saboteurs.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, noted that following reports of killings attributed to herdsmen and the tension that has enveloped Isi-Uzo Local Council of Enugu State, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has called for an emergency security meeting with leaders of the council in Enugu.

Commending Ugwuanyi for the move, HURIWA urged South East Governors to adopt a regional approach to secure the Igbo-speaking region and back efforts by the Enugu State Governor to check the “incessant terror attacks” in Isi-Uzo local government area of Enugu State.

According to Onwubiko, “the rights group wondered where the military involved in Operation New Dawn that had killed many civilians under the guise of combating Eastern Security Network has gone to whilst these unprovoked attacks by Fulani terrorists in Enugu are waged successfully.”

“We in HURIWA are very impressed that the Enugu State Governor is on top of the situation and has effectively activated workable mechanisms to forestall future reoccurrence and we are encouraging the government of Enugu State to pursue the path of putting in place water- tight and fool-proof security network, including the setting up of Statewide armed vigilante, backed by a law of the Enugu State House of Assembly in line with Section 4(7) of the Nigerian Constitution for the security and good governance of the good people of Enugu State.

“The efforts by the Governor of Enugu State to secure the people of Enugu State is in tandem with Section 14(2) (B) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999, as amended, which makes security of lives and propertyof citizens as the primary purpose of government,” the statement read in part.

HURIWA said it is supporting the government of Enugu State to mobilise resources and organise necessary manpower to secure the State from infiltrators.

The rights group recalled that uneasy calm pervaded the council since December last year, after suspected herdsmen reportedly kidnapped, in a week, seven residents who returned for the 2021 Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.

It quoted media reports that five of the victims were said to have been abducted along the Eha-Amufu/Agu-Amede/Ikem road, even as residents of the area lamented that no week passed without a report of people being killed by bandits suspected to be herdsmen along the Eha-Amafu/Ikem road.

The group also recalled that last week, the wife and child of the brother of a serving Commissioner in the state were reportedly kidnapped in their home and taken to an unknown destination.

Besides, HURIWA asserted that on Wednesday, the state woke with reports of sack of five village farm settlements in Mgbuji Autonomous Community, Eha-Amafu, with killing of five persons, including children and women.

The rights group said the development came barely five days after three members of the state’s Neighbourhood Watch were killed while pursuing kidnappers to rescue the wife and 11-year-old daughter of the younger brother to the Enugu Commissioner that were abducted on January 1.

It was gathered that since Mgbuji had been visited with kidnap and killings, the residents no longer find the place safe and had, therefore, been escaping to other communities for safety.

HURIWA Asserted that these blood-cuddling violence against the Igbo-speaking people were the fundamental basis for the call by the South East political leaders to collectively set up a security structure to protect the civilians who frequently come under incessant attacks by armed terrorists.

HURIWA has also urged the President Muhammadu Buhari, as a statesman, to categorically declare Miyetti Allah Cattle Owners Association as a terrorist group and apprehend their national and regional leaders for recently vocalizing “active support for the terrorist groups made up of armed Fulani herdsmen who are on rampage in different parts of the Country.”