*** asks Ugwuanyi to set up Judicial panel, alleges sinister motive
The Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, on Tuesday asked Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state to set up of a judicial panel of Inquiry to looking into last Sunday’s violent clash between members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and security operatives.
Abaribe, a former Deputy Governor of Abia state said the entire scenario gave room to wide suspicion of a sinister motive, insisting that the clash with culminated in the killing of Igbo Youths by security operatives was totally condemnable and unacceptable.
The lawmaker in a statement issued in Abuja by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom, titled ‘Abaribe condemns Igbo youths’ killings in Enugu’, said the haste with which security operatives kill hapless Igbo youths at the slightest opportunity was becoming worrisome.
He also warned that the labelling of every Igbo group as terrorists and the incessant killings of their youths by the security operatives has become one too many and is no longer acceptable to his people.
He said the expected judicial panel would would help to unravel the truth in the assertions of both the security and other groups on what really happened.
The senator noted that it was “disheartening that security operatives seem to derive pleasure at any slight whim to unleash mayhem, using the most lethal weapons against unarmed Igbo youths at every turn.”
“Such unsavoury, brutal and hateful resort to extreme repression, demean Nigeria’s democratic ethos and even question her unity,” he said.
Part of the statement read, “We are in a democracy where every agency of government, particularly the security apparatchik must adhere strictly to rules of engagement with regards to dealings with the civil populace in such a manner that will be in conformity with international best practices.
“The last time I checked, Nigerians still enjoy the freedom to associate freely. Nobody has told us that the Igbo youths meeting last Sunday was a gathering meant to launch an attack on anybody.
“Who will they attack and for what? What informed the police and DSS deployment to the venue of the meeting?
“Incontrovertible reports suggest very strongly that the killings were ignited when the security operatives stormed the venue of that peaceful meeting, not that the youths marched to anywhere to attack anybody.
“These are the issues that should be addressed at the panel,” Abaribe said.
The Minority Leader further said it was most worrisome that the people would no longer gather peacefully in their own country without being dispersed forcefully or be branded terrorists for no just cause.
The lawmaker said he would not want to believe that the wide card labeling of every Igbo youth group as terrorists is a cover to achieve a predetermined plot.
He said, “Let it not be that we now have an army of occupation in South East, working clandestinely to create fears and state of anomie in a region that has remained perhaps the most peaceful in the country.”
He, however, advised the youths to remain calm and not to resort to any form of reprisals, or succumb to provocations that could tempt them to take laws into their own hands.
“We await the official reaction of the Enugu State governor on the matter,” he concluded.
This Post: Enugu violent clash: Incessant killing of Igbo Youths by security operatives, unacceptable says Abaribe was approved and published by Ancity Media Editor and may not be republished elsewhere without prior written permission from the Editor.
