Bothered by the apparent failure of the Imo State Governor Mr Hope
\nUzodinma and the pliant House of Assembly to take steps to check the
\ngrowing number of attacks by armed Fulani terrorists and herdsmen in
\nparts of Imo State, the Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy group-: HUMAN
\nRIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA)\u00a0 has condemned the trend
\nand strongly canvassed the passage and enforcement of legislation to ban
\noutdoor and open grazing of animals all over Imo State and to equip the
\ncommunities to set up active vigilantes in addition to the community
\npolicing mechanism recently unveiled in the state.<\/p>\n
Besides, the Rights group has admonished Governor Hope Uzodinma to tone
\ndown the anti-opposition party’s rhetorical warfare being waged by his
\nadministration against the major opposition platform of the Peoples
\nDemocratic Party(PDP) and to begin proper governance in Imo state which
\nis seriously lacking given the widespread discontent and mass
\ndissatisfaction expressed by Millions of the good people of the state
\nwho are legitimately worried about the lack of developmental focus by
\nthe state administration which has created the security vacuum that has
\nimpacted negatively on the wellbeing of the people as manifested by the
\ngrowing rates of killings and attacks orchestrated and organised by
\narmed Fulani herdsmen rampaging all around the farming communities in
\nthe three Senatorial zones of Orlu, Okigwe and Owerri in the last couple
\nof months.<\/p>\n
In a statement to the media by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel
\nOnwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf,
\nHUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA)\u00a0 said it was
\nunfortunate that palpable tension had enveloped Obudi Agwa community in
\nOguta council area of Imo State following marauding Fulani herdsmen
\nattacking and killing an indigene of the community in his farm.<\/p>\n
“HURIWA is shocked to learn that for two weeks since after that gruesome
\nmurder of Elder Ozoemena Iriaka who had gone to his farm in the morning
\nhours when he saw Fulani herdsmen grazing their cattle on his farm and
\nthat he had confronted for grazing their cattle on his farm, the Imo
\nState House of Assembly and Governor Hope Uzodinma are still unable to
\nput pressure on the relevant security forces in Imo State to apprehend
\nthe killer Fulani herdsmen and bring them to justice.<\/p>\n
HURIWA lamented that the inaction of the Imo State government is the
\nmotivating factor to these armed marauders who seem to have upped the
\nante of their murderous attacks to other sections of the state including
\nthe sexual violations and murder of a mother of four which till date
\nsince after two weeks is yet to be resolved.<\/p>\n
HURIWA stated that the primary duty and responsibility of government is
\nto secure the lives of the citizens just as the Rights group said it was
\nregrettable that even when it was further learnt that the deceased had
\ntried to chase away the cows from his farm, an action which had angered
\nthe herdsmen who attacked him with their machetes, inflicting deep cuts
\non the back of his head as he tried to escape from them, the Imo State
\nadministration seems to be working on the theory that soon the matter
\nwould be swept under the carpets.<\/p>\n
“We reject this absolute neglect of the primary Constitutional
\nresponsibility of government by the current political establishment in
\nImo state and we call on the governor and the State House of Assembly to
\npass the Anti-open grazing law in Imo state and to stop the infiltration
\nof the state by killer armed Fulani herdsmen.<\/p>\n
“Hope Uzodinma as far as the law is concerned is the chief security
\nofficer of Imo state by virtue of the legal fact that he is the governor
\nof Imo State. He must desist from thinking that he owns his allegiance
\nto the Fulani Caliphate going by the circumstances of his emergence
\nthrough a controversial verdict of the Supreme Court of Nigeria presided
\nover by the Fulani born Sharia jurist Alhaji Muhammad Tanko of Bauchi
\nState. Hope Uzodinma must govern Imo State for the benefit of Imo people
\nand the best way to go about it is to eliminate all traces of threats to
\nthe security and lives and property of the good people of Imo State for
\nthe period of time that he would preside over the affairs of Imo state.
\nImo state people should organise and not agonize to protect their
\nancestral lands from being overrun by foreign mercenaries masquerading
\nas Fulani herdsmen. Imo State must never be allowed to become a theatre
\nof terrorism”.<\/p>\n
HURIWA has similarly tasked Governor Hope Uzodinma to arrest the
\nsuspected killers who allegedly killed a 45-year-old woman, Mrs Susanna
\nIwuoha, after raping her.<\/p>\n
HURIWA recalled that Mrs Iwuoha, a mother of four from Alaocha,
\nUmuchiaku, in Lowa-Okata autonomous community, Ihitte Uboma Local
\nGovernment Area, was found dead with her face immersed into a local
\nstream some days after she left home for her farmland.<\/p>\n
The Rights group said it is possible that she was killed by the same
\narmed Fulani herdsmen who killed the elderly farmer in Oguta because the
\nwoman, whose undergarment was carted away by her attackers, was
\ndiscovered by a community search party after her children raised the
\nalarm over her disappearance since June 3. One Bernard Ekeka, who is
\nbelieved to have seen the unidentified attackers, was also killed.
\nAccording to Iwuoha’s 15-year-old daughter, Ugochi, they had earlier
\ngone to the farm together for weeding and returned home before her
\nmother decided to return later that day to harvest some crops.<\/p>\n
HURIWA is once more charging the Imo State governor and the State House
\nof Assembly to rapidly pass the anti-open grazing law if there is none
\nto put to a permanent end the rampaging attacks of armed Fulani herdsmen
\njust as the Rights group said the Imo State government should seek for
\nways of galvanizing a regional approach towards instituting a SOUTH
\nEASTERN ANTI-OPEN GRAZING LAW and to set up a regional security network
\nto protect the region from all forms of violent attacks.<\/p>\n
Relatedly, HURIWA thinks the National Assembly is not committed to the
\nfight against sexual violations of youngsters by rapists who are
\nunleashing venomous attacks on young girls and boys all around the
\nCountry.<\/p>\n
“HURIWA is apprehensive that all the noises coming from Abuja about the
\nissue of combating RAPE and sexual attacks against younger persons by
\nmostly Men are just cosmetic and artificial wailing of pretenders who
\nwill simply wait for the mass of the citizens to stop talking about
\nthese rape cases in the social media and then the Country returns to the
\nbusiness as usual default format that it has been for over 60 years. The
\nNational Assembly has the knife and the yam and so why are they crying?
\nThey are the legislators who can look at all the laws relating to sexual
\noffences and then fundamentally reform this archaic legal framework to
\nbring it in tandem with the demands of the 21st century compliant
\nNigerian nation. The Presidency should stop the public show and the
\nmedia showmanship over the cases of RAPE and sexual attacks against
\nyounger persons in Nigeria. If you are in government, your
\nresponsibility is to maintain law and order and punish offenders and not
\nto cry like little babies when the system seems to have failed our
\nchildren by not protecting them from murderous rapists. The Presidency
\nruns the Police which has failed to prosecute sexual violators. The
\nPresidency is where the Federal Attorney General and minister of justice
\nwork. Law Reform Commission is located in the Presidency and so why is
\nthe Federal Government not seen activating measures to strengthen the
\nlaws against rapists so as to introduce strong enough sanctions and
\nlegal penalties that would serve as deterrence to the violent rapists
\nwho are running riots all over the country?”<\/p>\n
Bothered by the apparent failure of the Imo State Governor Mr Hope Uzodinma and the pliant House of Assembly to take steps to check the growing number of attacks by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n