A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has challenged the federal government to ensure that the suspects arrested in connection with the bombing of a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State which left over 50 worshippers dead were diligently prosecuted.

In a statement by National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group maintained that the federal government has acquired notoriety for setting Islamic terrorists free, failing deliberately to prosecute them or protect their detention centres to facilitate the easy escape of the terrorists.

HURIWA which was reacting to the reported arrest of some suspects in connection with mass killing of parishioners of Owo Catholic Church on June 5, 2022 when gunmen stormed the church and opened fire on worshippers and also detonated improvised explosives.

The arrest of the suspects, according to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, was made possible by joint operations of all the security agencies. The CDS, who listed their names noted that the suspects, who are members of Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP), were in custody.

But HURIWA expressed doubts that the nabbed suspects would face trial as it claimed that in the last seven years, no significant Islamists and mass murderers have been successfully prosecuted, jailed and secured inside of the prisons.

“Government of President Muhammadu Buhari has no good record of successfully prosecuting Islamic terror masterminds but is notorious for deploying empty media rhetoric’s to hoodwink undiscerning members of the public to believe that actions are being adopted to deal with terrorists.

“We want Nigerians to ask the Inspector General of Police, for instance, where are the terrorists, kidnappers and Fulani bandits purportedly arrested and paraded in the media since seven years back. Can the IGP give Nigerians a breakdown of the well over 5, 000 terrorists paraded over the last seven years whose information are no longer made known until another batch of the terrorists are to be paraded?

“HURIWA is worried that government officials seriously think that Nigerians are people without retentive memory or a population incapable of demanding accountability from their government which is why this government deploys lame, illogical and laughable media propaganda to handle serious matter of threats to the sovereignty of Nigeria and national security interests which terrorist attacks constitute.

“Why tell us you have arrested terrorists but you don't have any agenda for prosecuting them to finality and when you send them to awaiting trial detention centres, the moles the All Progressives Congress planted in the Federal Prisons will sabotage the security of the facilities so detained terrorists can escape?," Onwubiko queried.

Accordingly, HURIWA asserted that the information by the Defence Chief that the terrorists who bombed the Catholic church in Owo Ondo State have been picked would remain in the realm of empty media propaganda until government prosecutes and the detention facilities are well protected such that internal saboteurs would not be able to manipulate the system to free the terrorists.

The group added that deliberate use of media propaganda to try to deceive Nigerians regarding the bombing of a packed Catholic Church in Owo Ondo State would not work, urging the military carry out “efficient and effective crackdown on terrorists” no matter their ethno-religious affiliations.