By HURIWA.
The Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has located the blame for the rampant shootings and extralegal killings of citizens by armed Police operatives known as Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on the desk of President Muhammadu Buhari for having a long history of impunity and crass misuse of the armed security forces to quell otherwise peaceful Protests since 2015 thereby leading to the killings of dozens of Nigerians just as the current administration has stifled the Independence of the National Human Rights commission of Nigeria by refusing to constitute the Governing Council thereby denying Nigeria the opportunity of the institutionalization of any form of accountability for the conducts of the security forces.
“HURIWA CONDEMNS the widespread mass killings of citizens by the security forces and tasked the Federal government to deal with this menacing VIRUS of police extralegal execution of the citizens before anarchy sets in because sooner rather than later, the citizens may revolt and take the law into their hands in their attempts for SELF PRESERVATION.
HURIWA said it is legitimate for the citizens to SAFEGUARD THE PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF THEIR FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT TO LIFE BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE BECAUSE THE RIGTH TO LIFE IF TAKEN AWAY CAN NEVER BE RESTORED. THIS IS WHY IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE NIGERIAN PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU TAKES CONCRETE STEPS TO FIRST AND FOREMOST, STOP THE DEPLOYMENT OF ARMED SQUADS TO CRUSH PEACEFUL MARCHERS AND THEN DEAL WITH KILLER TENDENCIES WITHIN THE POLICE FORCE URGENTLY”.
HURIWA which spoke in the wake of the reported gunning to death at the Weekend of some youths in Ugheli in the Crude oil rich Delta State by a team of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force just as the dastard incident of police extralegal killing occurred in front of Wetland Hotel, Ughelli in Delta State. The operatives allegedly shot the citizen and left the scene.
“HURIWA is aware of a trending footage which shows the killer police operatives speeding off in the victim’s vehicle – a white Lexus SUV.
HURIWA maintains that the government seems to be deriving some kind of satisfaction from the activities of the dreaded Police unit that has repeatedly harassed and killed Nigerians because if the contrary is the case, the Federal Government which is the direct employer of these operatives could have REIN in these killers but because some persons in government seems to be gaining by the bloody violence targeting mostly young Nigerians in most cases, the culprits within the ranks of the Nigerian Police Force under the authority of the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu and the command and control of the Commander in chief and the President are never arrested or prosecuted.
Their activities have triggered protests off and on and there have been extensive social media campaigns tagged (#EndSARS), with many Nigerian clamouring for a scrap of the department. We recalled that in August 2018, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, as the Acting President, made a lame attempt at checking the killer instincts of these dare devil policemen when he ordered then Inspector General of Police (IGP); Ibrahim Idris, to overhaul SARS management and activities.
Osinbajo ordered that the unit that will emerge from the process, must be intelligence-driven and restricted to the prevention and detection of armed robbery and kidnapping, and apprehension of offenders linked to the stated offences just as the then Acting President ordered the IGP to ensure that all operatives in the emerging unit conduct their operations in strict adherence to the rule of law and with due regard to International Human Rights Law and the constitutionally guaranteed rights of suspects. The operatives should also bear proper identification anytime they are on duty. Sadly, these lofty ambitions have remained mere illusions because the government benefit from the rot.”
HURIWA however said the Federal Government lacks the will to check the excesses of these brutes in police uniform because the government has the unholy history and antecedents of deploying operatives of the security forces to kill CITIZENS at will and these licensed mass killers in Police uniform often get away with these Heinous crimes and so the rest of the killer police operatives embedded within the system are emboldened to continue to unleash bloody violence targeting mostly young Nigerians in the guise of chasing after fraudsters.
We condemn these incessant attacks and murders of citizens by the Police. We urge the Government to constitute the Governing Council of the National Human Rights commission and to allow all the institutional safeguards against extrajudicial killings of the citizens using all available legal frameworks against the assassination of citizens. We also urge Nigerians to begin mass demonstrations against the illegal activities of the Nigerian Police Force.
