Posted by The Nigerian Army and the South-East security group Ebubeagu invaded Aku-Okigwe in Imo State on Monday in an effort to free a kidnapped female soldier, Lieutenant PP Johnson. This invasion was denounced on Monday by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, or HURIWA.
The military’s method of blocking the entire stretch of federal highway from Okigwe in Imo State up to Lokpanta in Abia State on December 31, 2022, and leaving travelers stranded for hours while nearby villages were set on fire by soldiers, according to the group, completely violated the rules of engagement in internal security operations.
In a statement, Emmanuel Onwubiko, the national coordinator of HURIWA, also denounced the December 26, 2022, kidnapping of the female soldier by unidentified gunmen as she was visiting her grandmother.
The rights organization urged intelligence community operators to apprehend the actual perpetrators of this unrelenting brutality, emphasizing that the kidnapping and murder of security forces personnel by thugs constitute unforgivable crimes against humanity.
The group warned state actors from using excessive force against the citizens of the neighborhood where the kidnapping took place in order to prevent collateral damage while ordering security personnel to go after the act’s perpetrators.
According to the report, a climate of fear was created for hundreds of thousands of residents who were in their home towns for the Christmas festivities because the majority of people who were still at home for the holiday season were unaware of the reasons behind the sporadic gunshots and the explosion of dozens of suspected hand grenade canisters.
The rights organization questioned why soldiers who should be professionally educated and maintained with taxpayer money would put innocent villages to such brutal ordeals.
In an effort to find and save Lieutenant PP Johnson, sources claim that soldiers and Ebubeagu agents went on the rampage. The homes of locals who had no connection to the crime of the young soldier’s kidnapping were also set on fire by security personnel.
To be able to receive actionable intelligence and avoid the use of primitive mass attack and rampage by soldiers who should be professionals, the Chief of Army Staff must seriously consider the issue of civil-military relations and devise strategies to win the hearts and minds of the civilian population.
The purported invasion of Aku-Okigwe by military and Ebubeagu officials is condemnable, exactly like Lieutenant PP Johnson’s kidnapping and dehumanization by unidentified gunmen, according to HURIWA’s Onwubiko. Security personnel must pursue hoodlums like those seen in a viral video torturing a female soldier because they do not deserve to be pardoned.
“However, in order to avoid causing collateral damage to law-abiding citizens and inhabitants of Aku-Okigwe, the military must adhere to the rules of engagement when going after the culprits.
Military invasions on South-East communities have continued ineffectively. The military’s invasion of Aku-Okigwe is not their first. In December 2022, armed forces entered the Obeagu Community in the Ebonyi State’s Ishielu Local Government Area. Invading troops from Headquarters 82 Division wrecked havoc in the Abia State village of Amangu in November.
“In September, troops also entered the bordering settlements of Orsumugho in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra and Orsu Local Government Area of Imo, killing three persons in each place. An escalating crisis resulted from soldiers’ invasion of the Izombe community in Oguta Local Council of Imo in 2021.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law reports that in the past 14 months, security forces had destroyed 1,000 homes and killed 1,400 persons in 100 Igbo communities.
In order to conclude Nigeria’s 13-year insurgency conflict, Major General Chris Musa, the theatre commander of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) in the North-East, welcomed negotiations with the leaders of terror organizations on Saturday. Why not use the same non-kinetic technique to end the situation in the South-East if this is the case in the north, as demonstrated by the numerous amnesty programs by state governments and the Federal Government?