October 18, 2008

His Excellency

President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces

Federal Republic of Nigeria

State House

Abuja

Your Excellency,

PETITION AGAINST THE NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES OF ABIA STATE VIGILANTE SERVICES (BAKASSI BOYS)

With deep sense of patriotism, we write to inform you of the nefarious activities of the Abia State Vigilante Services, also known as the Bakassi boys.

Recall that the armed group was in July 2002 proscribed by the Federal Government, some of their members whisked to Abuja and detained, following their indulgence in extra-judicial killings, suppression of perceived opponents of the Abia State Government and other related offences.

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In 2005, the Abia State Government reconstituted the group, provided them with pump action guns and secured for them operational centres in all the major markets in Aba and Umuahia. But the group was once again disbanded, owing to the suffocation of 32, out of 37 innocent people abducted, detained in a dark and unventilated 12/12 lock-up shop and tortured with machetes and barb wires on August 5, 2005 at Orie Ohabiam Electronic Market, Aba.

Like the proverbial leopard that cannot change its skin, the T.A. Orji-led administration borrowed a leaf from the previous regime and reconstituted the Bakassi boys under the false pretext of combating armed robbers and bandits that have overtaken the state. Yet, armed robbery and banditry are spinning out of control.

Contrary to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Bakassi boys, rather than handover arrested criminal suspects/petty thieves to the police for prosecution, butcher and burn them like Christmas goats in full glare of the public. 

Also, the notorious group has also embarked on criminal extortion of N1,000.00 (One thousand naira) illegal security levy from every Aba resident and corporate body. The most worrisome of this was the forceful collection of N2,000.00 (N1,000.00 security levy and N1,000.00 penalty for late payment) from the Campaign for Democracy (CD), southeast zonal headquarters, reputed for its role in the restoration of civil rule in Nigeria.

In addition, the group serves as a willing and ready tool in the hands of some aggressively intolerant officials of the Abia State Government in the subjugation of their perceived enemies. For example, in the early hours of Wednesday, October 15, 2008, members of the Abia State Vigilante Services, wielding cutlasses, guns, charms and other sophisticated weapons invaded the Abia State office of the Campaign for Democracy (CD) at 31, Ojike Street, Umuahia, which also doubles as the office of the Bende Analyst newspaper, to abduct the Abia State Chairman of the CD, Comrade David Kalu who is also the publisher of the Bende Analyst newspaper, on the order of the Clerk of the Abia State House of Assembly, Mr. Orie Orji .

The irresponsible and unwarranted attack on the CD office by the notorious and blood-thirsty group, was in connection with a publication by the Bende Analyst newspaper, vol. 1, No. 8, captioned “Abia House of Assembly, a house without records”.

In the said publication, Kalu alleged that the Abia State House of Assembly did not produce the Hansard between 1999 and 2007, despite the budgetary provisions for it and therefore asked the Clerk of the state parliament what happened to the funds appropriated for it.

It should be recalled that the Abia CD boss had made several attempts to get copies of the Hansard to enable his organization ascertain the performances of members of the state parliament but was shocked to discover that the House did not produced any for about eight years. Rather than offer plausible reasons for the non-production of the Hansard, the Clerk who is the administrative head of the Abia State House of Assembly, threatened to deal ruthlessly with him, should he publish the story. And he kept his threat by sending the Bakassi boys after Kalu.

It beats our imagination that in a supposedly democratic administration, extra-judicial killings, criminal extortion of money from law-abiding citizens and suppression of dissenting voices, which characterized the dark era of military dictatorship, are glaring manifesting themselves in Abia State.  Abians are therefore wondering whether they made an error in fighting for the restoration of civil rule as opposed to military dictatorship.

Against this background, we call on your Excellency to make good use of your offices as the Chief Security Officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to:

1)    Proscribe the Abia State Vigilante Services for illegal possession of firearms.

2)    Order the Director-General of State Security Services to fish out members of the Abia State Vigilante Services since the police has compromised its statutory functions in the state.

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3)    Order the Attorney-General of the Federation/Minister of Justice to prosecute members of the Abia State Vigilante Services for stealing or armed robbery.

4)    Set up a presidential panel, composed of security agents and civil society organizations in the state to recover from the Abia State Vigilante Services their arms.

5)    Order the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe the allegation of non-production of Hansard by the Abia State House of Assembly between 1999 and 2007, and prosecute any official found to have misappropriated or diverted funds appropriated for it.

Your Excellency, Sir, we trust that you will not hesitate in meeting the above demands in line with your administration’s professed commitment to the global fights against terrorism and corruption, as represented by the Bakassi boys in Abia State.

Yours in the service to humanity,

Comrade Chidi Nwosu

Regional Chairman

Campaign for Democracy