Igbo professionals under the auspices of Nzuko Umuna have described as horrifying, frightening, and unutterable in a democracy the shoot-at-sight order given by the Inspector General Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, to police officers in the South East.
The socio-cultural group told a world news conference in Abuja that the IGP gave the directive in Enugu on May 18 when he launched Operation Restore Peace in the region.
It insisted that adhering to such directive could lead to human rights abuses and total breakdown of law and order in the region, addig that it has notified the international community, particularly the International Criminal Court, the United Nation Human Rights Council as well as various high commissions and embassies in Nigeria.
It implored the IGP to rescind “his unconstitutional and illegal orders,” and urged the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate and take proactive actions to avert extrajudicial killings in the South East.
“According to multiple newspapers, television and social media reports, the inspector general, while launching Operation Restore Peace in the South East in Enugu on May 18, 2021 declared thus:
“Don’t mind the media shout; do the job I command you. If anyone accuses you of human rights violations, 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.
“Don’t sit and wait for them to come; take the attack to them and don’t lose your arms to criminals,’’they quoted the inspector general as saying..
“We consider this statement horrifying, frightening and unutterable in a democracy with entrenched constitutional rights to life and due process.
“We are more surprised that the head of the Nigerian police will make such an outrageous statement authorising state violence in a region that for long has been seething with anger at police brutality of whose youths have been extra-judicially killed by security agents in large numbers.
“This statement sends shivers down the spines of residents of the South East because it suggests a declaration of war against them by the Nigerian state, and conjure images of gruesome murders as we saw during the infamous ‘Python Dance’ in the area.
“Already, there are credible reports of numerous extrajudicial killings of people in the South East. How many more will be killed if soldiers and police officers believe that there will be no accountability for all forms of impunity and atrocity in the South East.
“We understand the exasperation of the government about the insecurity crisis in the country and the spate of attacks against law enforcement personnel and state security institutions, infrastructure and assets.
“Nzuko Umunna fully supports efforts, in accordance with constitutional norms and global standards of law enforcement, to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians in the South East and elsewhere in Nigeria.
“We condemn in unmistakable language attacks against police officers and other law enforcement agents in the South East, the South-South, the South West, the North Central, the North East and the North West. We urge the Nigeria police to painstakingly find out and prosecute those who are guilty of such nefarious and criminal actions against law and order, and to use all legitimate force to prevent such attacks.
“However, the painful loss of lives of men and officers under one’s watch is not a justification for an indiscriminate and vicious resort to state violence against Nigerian citizens in the South East by the head of the Nigerian police.
“Such reckless statement betrays a determination to punish Nigerian citizens in the region and deprive them of the due process protection under the constitution.
“By this press conference, we give the National Human Rights Commission notice to commence an investigation of the statement of the inspector general of police and take proactive preventive actions to avert extrajudicial killings in the South East.
“We also serve notice to the international community, particularly the International Criminal Court and the United Nation Human Rights Council and the various high commissions and embassies in Nigeria of a policy of state violence against Nigerian citizens in the South East who are mostly Igbos.
“These authorities should take proactive actions to avert what is clearly a policy of state violence against some Nigerians by the Nigerian security institutions,” they added.
