Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has said that terrorists responsible for the deadly terror attack targeted at worshippers at the Catholic church In Owo, Ondo State, may never be arrested by the Federal Government.
HURIWA alleged a cover-up by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government which had come out to blame ISWAP for the attack in a clear contradiction to claims by some of the survivors who had pointed to Fulani terrorists as the masterminds.
HURIWA also condemned the President for failing to visit the scene of the Catholic church attack in Ondo State and particularly for not honouring the victims with his presence at their burial a few hours back.
It stated that the fact that the dominant members of the Security Council under the Buhari administration are Muslims and the unfortunate fact that one hundred percent of the heads of internal security institutions such as Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration, Nigeria Customs Service, Department of State Services and the Nigeria Intelligence Agency are Muslim Northerners and mostly Fulanis, makes it practically impossible for this government to be transparent and accountable.
HURIWA said the government was also involved in a cover-up of the armed herdsmen that attacked and killed many Benue State and Southern Kaduna people over the past 7 years.
HURIWA in a statement by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said the attack at the Catholic Church in Owo is only one out of the over three dozen of such incidents.
The group said the fact that the Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, rejected the claim by the Federal Government that the Islamic State West African Province is responsible for the terrorists attack clearly shows that Buhari’s government was involved in a cover-up gambit.
The rights group asked Nigerians to demand accountability from the Federal Government on why it has failed woefully to protect innocent Nigerians and especially Christians.
“The citizens must demand to know why there are no efforts by the Central government to punish terrorists but each time these terrorists attack soft targets, the Federal Government will go on overdrive attempting to spread confusion and lies so as to hide the identity of the killers,” the group said.
“We must bear in mind that the Ondo State Governor Mr. Akeredolu, who noted that the Federal Government’s conclusion was too hasty, said he took the conclusion with a pinch of salt, adding that ISWAP members were known to take responsibility for their attacks.
“The Governor is such a meticulous person that also gets first-hand security reports and so what all these shenanigans by the Federal Government demonstrate is a government bent on masking the real perpetrators of this crime against humanity who were hitherto identified by the victims who survived the horrendous attacks as Fulanis, the same ethnicity as President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The painful reality is that the President has a notoriety for shielding his kinsmen from all sorts of accusations even without any forensic investigation to back up the claims by the Federal Government.
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“President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has backed Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association when the Ondo State Governor expelled armed Fulani terrorists from Ondo Forests and Miyetti said it won’t respect the State government and the government in Abuja backed Miyetti. So why is this same Presidency playing hide-and-seek when those attacked but survived mentioned the Ethnicity of their attackers and one of the eye witnesses even interacted with one of them who spared her life miraculously?”
HURIWA said the only way to combat these terrorists is for President Muhammadu Buhari to rejig the service Chiefs and especially the heads of the internal security institutions to balance up the character of the holders to change from the Northern Fulani Moslem character to Federal Character.
HURIWA said it is illogical to expect that a national security Council made up almost entirely of Northern Moslems could be trusted by others, especially from the South, to be truthful with information like that of the attackers at the Catholic Church in Owo Ondo State.
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