Alleged Extrajudicial Killings, Extortion, Abuse in S/East: RULAAC, Others Canvass Probe by NHRC

Ikechukwu Aleke in Abuja

The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), a civil society organization and eight others, have called on the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), to investigate alleged extrajudicial killings, extortion of families whose relatives are in custody, and sexual abuse of women by state and non-state actors in southeast region.

In a petition signed by RULAAC Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, and eight other civil society organizations, delivered to NHRC, on June 19 2024, they called on the human rights commission to undertake prompt, exhaustive and effective investigation into the persistent Ezza-Effium and Ezza-Ezeilo conflicts which have continued to result in massacres.

The petition also decried the invasion and attacks on Igga and Nimbo
communities in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State by personnel of the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Police Force.
The rights groups noted that the invading security forces shot indiscriminately, killing community members and burning several houses and other properties.
The petition read in part: “We, the undersigned civil society organisations and other concerned groups and citizens, alarmed by frequent incidents of organized attacks, killings, extortion, sexual violence, and destruction of properties in the Southeast, portending far-reaching human rights violations, feel compelled to call on the National Human Rights Commission to deploy all necessary instruments available to it, which may include the appointment of a special investigation panel, to inquire into these incidents.

“We are concerned by the oppressive atmosphere of siege, impunity and fear partly engendered by the federal government’s single narrative that narrows insecurity in the southeast almost exclusively to the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). This single narrative explains why the federal government ignores other drivers and dimensions of insecurity and the need for a holistic and multidimensional approach.
“It also informs federal government’s tendency to solely deploy force in its response to insecurity, and its neglect of community engagement and dialogue, as well as addressing the socio-economic and political root causes and drivers of crime and insecurity.

“This approach has contributed to escalating insecurity, fueling the cycle of violence and resulting in gross human rights violations. The federal government’s penchant for deploying “special military operations’’ such as ‘’Operation Egwu Eke (Python dance)’’, Operation Crocodile Smile, as well as special police operation, ‘Operation Restore Peace’ for the southeast underscores this narrative and its shortcomings”.

The petitioners recalled that while launching the special police operation in Enugu in 2021, the then Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali Baba directed police officers thus: “Don’t mind the media shout; do the job I command you. If anyone accuses you of human rights violation, the report will come to my table and you know what I will do. So, take the battle to them wherever they are and kill them all. Don’t wait for an order.”

The group added that the IGP in issuing that reckless directive said it was in compliance with then President Buhari’s previous “shoot-on-sight” order issued to security forces against IPOB.

The outcome of these orders, they said, has been a floodgate of mass raids and indiscriminate arrests and detention in inhuman and degrading conditions; torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

The petition further alleged that there are also indications that security agents exploit the opportunity for self-enrichment, including extortion of huge sums of money from family members of detained victims.

According to the petition, “The ubiquity and widespread presence of security checkpoints along all interstate highways and inner-city roads across states in the southeast contribute to the atmosphere of militarisation, siege and shrinking civic space.

“Among the notable recent cases of what increasingly appears to be a systematic and serial abuse of human rights in the Southeast perpetrated by both state and non-state actors are the following: Invasion of Igga Community in Enugu State We received with sadness, reports of the invasion and attacks on Igga community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State at about 10 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, 2023 by personnel of the Nigerian army and Nigeria Police Force.

“The invading security forces shot indiscriminately, killing community members and burning several houses and other properties. According to a Premium Times Report of May 6, 2024, one of the residents, identified as Richard Okoye, about 70-years-old, died during the invasion. Providing explanation for the operation in a statement the next day, the police spokesperson in Enugu State, Daniel Ndukwe, claimed “criminal members” of the community, on Friday, murdered two police operatives and three members of a Neighborhood Watch Group in the area.

“Mr. Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police, said a combined security team comprising three police operatives and four members of the Neighbourhood Watch Group provided security for a team of visiting investors from Lagos State on a tour of a proposed agricultural investment site in the area.

“Responding to the allegations of invasion of the community and burning of houses, the police chief said those pushing the narrative were attempting “to misinform and mislead” Nigerians. He warned those circulating video clips and accusing the combined security operatives of burning and looting houses in the community to “desist forthwith,” but did not deny or confirm the allegation against the operatives.”

On massacres arising from persistent Ezza-Effium and Ezza- Ezeilo conflicts in Ebonyi State, the group said: “Considering that the Ebonyi State Government is considered as having vested interest in the conflicts and therefore not trusted to be impartial in the resolution of the conflicts, we call on the NHRC to undertake an independent investigation with a view to ascertaining the roots and issues in the conflicts and why the conflicts and massacres have persisted over the years.”