The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has expressed strong disapproval of the Rivers State Police Command and the Department of State Services, DSS, citing their significant failures, inaction, and passive compromise of intelligence.
HURIWA asserted that the inaction of these agencies facilitated the coordinated arson attacks by economic and political terrorists in several local councils in the Ikwerre axis.
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA highlighted that both security agencies took no preventive measures to avert the extensive invasion of local councils by armed political terrorists.
Following Saturday’s local government elections, suspected political thugs reportedly set ablaze a newly constructed section of the council secretariat in Isiokpo, located in the Ikwerre Local Government area. The extent of the damage remains uncertain as the police authorities have not commented on the incident, as per HURIWA.
The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, directed the Rivers State Commissioner of Police to unseal the local government secretariats and withdraw personnel stationed at the councils across the state.
HURIWA held the security forces accountable for any turmoil in Rivers, emphasizing their legal obligation to safeguard the lives, property, and public buildings of the citizenry. The group called upon Egbetokun to ensure that political terrorists are not unleashed in Rivers State, and demanded that the Department of State Services identify the economic and political terrorists responsible for the coordinated attacks on public buildings belonging to local councils and the people of Rivers State.
The organization urged politicians to uphold the law and embrace peace, cautioning that law enforcement institutions must remain impartial and not exempt any influential or powerful politicians from the law. HURIWA emphasized that those who set fire to local council buildings should be treated as political terrorists, likening them to Boko Haram terrorists.
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