Afenifere Cautions over Increased Spate of Civilian-Army Killings

The pan Nigerian welferist group,  Afenifere has expressed concern over the increased spate of civilian-army clashes in the country, as it implores the citizenry, the army and the government to tread on the path of justice, peace and unity to prevent total anarchy. 

This is contained in a release by Afenifere, signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye stating that the unfortunate killing of soldiers by non state actors and the aftermath reprisals by the military in the recent times in the country portends anarchy.

“We have witnessed the killing of soldiers and brutal reprisals in Okuama, Delta State and Aba, Abia State in Southeast region and spat of others across the country in recent times. 

“Normally, citizens revere their soldiers across the world and soldiers are only attacked when viewed as an unjust occupying force. This is unacceptable and we can’t allow ourselves to be desensitized to these killings, and slide towards anarchy,” it stated.

The group, having viewed the looming anarchy and economic retrogression these insensitive destruction of lives and properties to the country would cause, calls on aggrieved citizens to employ legal democratic means to correct injustices and aspirations. 

“We can’t continue to lose lives by taking laws into our own hands. We should also be wary not to create situations that anarchists and criminals can take advantage to conflagrate for their own evil agenda. In African traditions, Elders must guide their wards away from radicalization and being used by those with ulterior motives. If and when the youth attack the State, more often than not, it is the elders, women and children that suffer, as the offending youth are quick to flee.

“Our most profound appeal goes to the army that is the most disciplined force in a country. We implore the army to desist from collective punishment on areas where they are challenged or killed. On many occasions those that carry out attacks against the army don’t live in the area and are just agent provocateurs. Even if it is believed that certain people in the community committed the atrocity, according to international conventions, there should be careful and definitive investigations to single out the perpetrators,” stated Afenifere. 

In review of Geneva convention, the group noted that collective punishment of the innocent in no time of war should be avoided as the repercussion will have a long lasting effect on the citizenry. 

“The 1949 Geneva Conventions and other international Human Rights statues prohibit collective punishment, specifically Common Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 4 of the Additional Protocol II. Democratic nations would rather let the guilty escape than to punish the innocent. The army should not be ruled by emotions and retributive justice that drive them to punish and kill the innocents that they are statutorily employed to protect. Though it might be difficult for soldiers whose counterparts are killed, the Army High Command should endeavor to take proactive steps to pacify the situation by redeploying soldiers that they have been traumatized.

“Ultimately, the increased spate of civilian-army clashes should serve as a wake up call to the Commander in Chief, President Tinubu to diffuse rising tensions by restructuring the polity to create a just and fair political system, to prevent people from attacking the army and other government institutions in frustration. The administration must be proactive in diffusing tensions in specific areas, and ensure that justice is done and seen to be done.”

Afenifere unequivocally stated  that the army that are trained to kill shouldn’t be deployed to tackle civilian issues, which normally should be handled by the police and other civilian forces, adding that the self determination activists and their communities which have seen heavy handedness even in Abuja, where soldiers were alleged to have closed down a whole shopping complex, Banex because of an alleged violation of a few soldiers should not occur.

“In the globally witnessed supremacy battles between government forces and agencies, previous military regimes arrested the development of our police to prevent them from being able to challenge military rule and authority in the civil arena. Now, a democratic civilian government needs to accelerate the restructuring of our police to be more professional, better equipped, with their structure decentralized into multiple levels – community, state and federal, to enable better community relations. Modern police forces are more culturally sensitive and trained in peace and conflict resolution.

“The government must restructure the country to make every citizen and ethnicity justified and feel part of a responsive representative governance, as advocated in the Confab and other reports. Many of these issues are tied to the right of self determination and distance between the governed and central government, which could be put to rest with the devolution of power from the central government to representatives of the aggrieved peoples. Summarily, Afenifere implores all concerned to do the right thing to prevent anarchy.”