*… Wonders If National Assembly Is Dead That It Can’t Probe Revelations From Armed Bandits’ Kingpin On Who Arms Them;
By HURIWA.
The Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has warned the federal government against open, biased and selective justice manifested in the persistent refusal and failure of President Muhammadu Buhari and his federal government to arrest and bring to trial for aiding and abetting terrorism in Nigeria, the Kaduna based controversial Islamic Cleric; Sheikh Ahmad GUMI.
The Rights group said that President Muhammadu Buhari has not done much to ensure that the TERROR GANGSTERS that kidnapped school children in Zamfara, Katsina and Niger States are arrested even as the Rights group said the measures against terrorists in the North West as announced by the National Security Adviser; Major General Monguno (rtd) on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari is COSMETIC and deceptive and would do no harm to the armed terrorists who are tolerated by the federal government to roam about in the forests armed to their teeth.
HURIWA has also called for the declaration of the armed abductors (known as Fulani militia) of school children in Katsina, Zamfara and Niger State as terror groups and arrest and prosecute them for the serial kidnappings of school children and punish them if we ever hope to have closure to the incessant invasions of schools by terrorists.
In a statement by the National Coordinator; Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director; Miss Zainab Yusuf, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) affirmed thus:
“Here is why GUMI MUST BE ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED-: ACCORDING TO TERRORISM (PREVENTION) ACT, 2011 Section 4(1) A person who knowingly, in any manner, solicits or renders support for. – (a) an act of terrorism; or
(b) A proscribed organisation or an internationally suspected terrorist group. An offence under this Act and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a maximum term of 20 years.
(2) Without prejudice to subsection (2) of this section, where death results from any terrorist act the penalty shall he death sentence:
(3) For the purposes of subsection (I) of this section, “support” includes.
(a) Incitement to commit a terrorist act;
(b) Offer of material assistance, weapons, including biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, explosives, training. Transportation, false documentation or identification;
(c) Offer or provision of moral assistance, including invitation to adhere to a proscribed organization; and
(d) The provision of, or making available, such financial or other related services as may be prescribed in this act.”
HURIWA stated that specifically, Section 5 of the nation’s anti-terrorism law says: “A person whether or not in the armed services who harbours, conceals or causes to be harboured or concealed, a person whom he knew to have committed, or to have been convicted of an act of terrorism or against whom he knew that a warrant of arrest or imprisonment for such an act had been issued commits an offence under that Act and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a maximum term of 10 years”.
Section 6 states thus: “Any person who, knowingly agrees to provide training or instruction –
(a) In the making or use of an explosive or other lethal device; or
(b) In carrying out terrorist act:
to a member of a terrorist group or a person engaging in, or preparing to engage in the commission of a terrorist act, commits an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a maximum term of 10 years.”
HURIWA has also lamented that the Senator Ahmed Lawan led National Assembly has gone into complete comatose hence it has refused to investigate the persistent confessions by the armed terrorists in the North West that their members were supplied with weapons by government just as the newspapers reported that one of the leaders of the armed terrorists personally accused President Muhammadu Buhari of abandoning them soon after he won election and asked him to personally meet with them for a truce talk.
The Rights group said the current leadership of the National Assembly will regret their acts of cowardice and compromise soon because the citizens will sooner than later demand the dissolution of the two chambers National Assembly which is expensive but largely made up of ‘house BOYS’ of the PRESIDENT.
HURIWA said: “There have been many earthshaking revelations made by the leaders of the different armed Fulani invading terror networks in the North West which in summary accuses the Federal government of arming the terrorists before the 2019 polls and then abandoning them soon after the election was over.
“Why is the National Assembly playing deaf and dumb to these stunning revelations? The failure of the National Assembly headed by surrogates and bootlickers of President Muhammadu Buhari to probe these accusations made by terrorists against the President Muhammadu Buhari, is against the spirit and letter of Section 4 of the Constitutional provisions contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999(as amended) as stated in the following subsections-:
“(1) The legislative powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be vested in a National Assembly for the Federation, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
(2) The National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Constitution.
(3) The power of the National Assembly to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List shall, save as otherwise provided in this Constitution, be to the exclusion of the Houses of Assembly of States.”
HURIWA BLAMES both the National Assembly and President Muhammadu Buhari for refusing to arrest, prosecute Ahmad GUMI for frustrating the enforcement of the anti-terror Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by acting as the envoy of armed terrorists who are terrorizing the North just as the Rights Advocacy group said it was treasonous for Ahmed GUMI to encourage armed terrorists to attack members of the armed forces because he clearly told them that the Christian members of the armed forces were the operatives responsible for the military actions they faced in the past and just few days after the Kaduna Cleric made the reckless statement the military jet with only Christian crew members crashed in Abuja and all the crew members died and few days ago a number of soldiers are feared dead after an attack on a military base in Katsina State.
HURIWA specifically quoted the media as reporting that the armed terrorists stormed an outpost in Marina, Safana Local Government Area on Thursday. The troops, according to Daily Trust, were returning from an operation when they moved into an ambush.
The bandits caught the soldiers unaware; they hid near the base and opened fire from different directions.
HURIWA also recalled that the Daily Trust was quoted as reporting that one Halilu Sububu, a bandit leader, listed Katsina as one of the states gangs terrorize. Others are Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna and Sokoto.
Sububu linked attacks to a breach of agreement and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to personally visit them for a chat.”
HURIWA cited the media report as stating thus: “It (agreement) has been breached. An agreement was reached but you left that person in a forest with a gun and nothing to substitute. All the promises made to us, none of it was fulfilled.
“The President should personally come and preside over the talks. When was campaigning, he traveled all over, why would he not do it now? He does not take these peace talks seriously, and everyday people are being killed”.
The Rights group said the failure of the National Assembly to investigate these monumental allegations against the Federal government for arming the terrorists as alleged is the reason terrorists have continued to launch their attacks including the invasion of the Federal Airport located in Kaduna in which scores of staff and their family members were abducted by the invading terrorists who are being appeased by the Federal government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
HURIWA has stated that because the National Assembly has failed to investigate these claims, the Civil Rights movement in Nigeria will definitely send petitions to major embassies in Nigeria to call their attention to these allegations and to demand international investigative action by the relevant global bodies such as the United Nations, the United States Congress and the European Union commission.
