The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lieutenant General Yahaya Faruk, to probe the invasion of the Mgbowo community by soldiers.
A video had emerged online of soldiers shooting sporadically within the Mgbowo community in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Reacting to the outcry that followed the video, the Nigeria Army 82 Division Enugu said the soldiers invaded the community over suspicion that it’s a camp for the Indigenous People of Biafra/Eastern Security Network (IPOB/ESN) members.
However, HURIWA said the explanation by the Nigerian Army was an attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet.
A statement by the rights group National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, lamented that the soldiers involved in the shooting behaved like “armed bandits and unknown gunmen.”
Describing the explanation by the Nigerian Army’s 82 Division Enugu as unsatisfactory, HURIWA said “a full disclosure in a broad-based investigative Tribunal” should be instituted.
According to Onwubiko: “HURIWA is tasking the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Yahaya Faruk to take interest in instituting another internal investigative mechanism to probe the clear manifestation of professional misconducts by the operatives of the Army seen carrying out the crude, primitive, unlawful and extremely toxic provocative attacks targeting civilian dominated area in Mgbowo community which contravene the goal of the military operation launched by himself which he said was aimed at tackling insurgency, kidnapping, and rising banditry in the South East leading to what he described as wanton killings and burning of government facilities.
“Evidence emanating from the viral video shows that those armed operatives sent by the Nigeria Army behaved exactly like armed bandits and unknown gunmen just as evidence showed them setting buildings that were deserted on fire.”
The rights group challenged the Army Chief to reveal which if the Rules of Engagement permits soldiers to burn down houses of accused persons and “if the Army is above the law and the constitution which specifies that accused persons are innocent until proven guilty by the competent court of law?”
Onwubiko also urged the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to constitute an investigative tribunal into the matter.
The rights group said the tribunal should be made up of judicial, civil society and military representatives similar to the #ENDSARS investigative panel.
Leave a Reply