On behalf of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA(HURIWA) headed by Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, a former National Commissioner of the NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA, we write to put out urgent corrections to a jaundiced press statement put out by the amorphous group that named themselves as stakeholders from civil society organizations, religious institutions and security advocacy groups signed by one Mr. Victor Mathew Bobai who says that he is Senior Special Assistant to the Kaduna state governor.
In this statement laced with malicious falsehood and innuendos, this so-called groups made strident but false efforts to dismiss our piece on the Chief of Defence Staff General Chris Gwabin Musa in which we drew the conclusion based on statistics of the high casualties that Nigeria has suffered from attacks by armed non-state actors just as we passed the verdict that the Defence Chief has failed to defend the lives and property of the citizens. The fact is that even the smallest child knows that in the last two years, Nigeria has become very dangerously unsafe and unlivable. Since the military have failed to stop these killings, how else can we assess the two years in office of the service chiefs other than to conclude with empirical data that the security chiefs have failed?
This groups under their phantom coalition, stated wrongly that our association or the person of the founder of HURIWA was carrying out a propaganda against the Defence Chief because according to them, we have links foreign agitators. This is defamatory and absolutely false.
We make haste to dismiss this lousy and outrageous allegation of having any link to foreign agitators, whatever that means.
We in the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) are some of the finest patriots of Nigeria which is why we very often publicise our well thought out positions on how to achieve good governance in Nigeria.
It is clear that these so -called Defence stakeholders must have been briefed by their pay- master to attack us even without debunking the facts and figures we presented to state that our Chief of Defence Staff has not done very well in the last two years to protect us.
For the avoidance of semantic doubts, the following is the report demonstrating that Nigerian government and invariably the Chief of Defence Staff and his colleagues who are service chiefs have collectively failed woefully in the very basic duty of care to protect the lives of Nigerians and their hard earned property which are constantly being attacked by different groups of non-state actors.
The report is that: “At least 10,217 people killed in two years since government took power
Over 6,896 killed in Benue, at least 2,630 killed in Plateau
638 villages sacked by bandits in Zamfara state
Looming humanitarian crisis being ignored
The Nigerian authorities’ shocking failure to protect lives and property from daily attacks by armed groups and bandits has cost thousands of lives and created a potential humanitarian crisis across many northern states, said Amnesty International.
A new investigation shows that, in the two years since the current government has been in power, at least 10,217 people have been killed in attacks by gunmen in Benue, Edo, Katsina, Kebbi, Plateau Sokoto and Zamfara state. Benue state accounts for the highest death toll of 6,896, followed by Plateau state, where 2,630 people were killed.
“Today marks exactly two years since President Bola Tinubu assumed office with a promise to enhance security. Instead, things have only gotten worse, as the authorities continue to fail to protect the rights to life, physical integrity, liberty and the security of tens of thousands of people across the country,” said Isa Sanusi, Director Amnesty International Nigeria.
“President Tinubu must fulfill his promises to Nigerians and urgently address the resurgence of the nation’s endemic security crisis. The recent escalation of attacks by Boko Haram and other armed groups shows that the security measures implemented by President Tinubu’s government are simply not working.”
In the two years since President Bola Tinubu’s government assumed power, new armed groups have emerged including Lakurawa in Sokoto and Kebbi state, and Mamuda in Kwara state, while hundreds of villages have been sacked by gunmen in Benue, Borno, Katsina, Sokoto, Plateau and Zamfara.(SOURCE: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL).
In conclusion, we urge the Chief of Defence Staff to come up with better, effective, efficient and result-oriented strategies to end the killings of Nigerians by terrorists and to stop granting Freedom to terrorists under the guise that they are repentant terrorists. HURIWA remains a good friend of the Nigerian military and we are ready to keep pointing out areas of weaknesses and to praise the top officers and the operatives whenever they perform excellently because we are PATRIOTIC NIGERIAN CITIZENS.
Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko,
National Coordinator,
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). 30TH JUNE 2025.
