HURIWA Accuses President Buhari of Maltreating Igbos Using the Nigerian Army

The recent deployment of soldiers to the South East to patrol streets has been described an unconstitutional.

President Muhammadu Buhari
A Pro-Democracy organisation, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday accused the President Muhammadu Buhari administration of maltreating Ndigbo in same manner the Rohingya ethnic groups are being treated by the regime in Myanmar.

In a report by Guardian, HURIWA described the military occupation of the South East of Nigeria in what is called Operation Python Dance II as unconstitutional, saying the deployment was an unnecessary show of force to provoke the civilian population.

Speaking through its National Coordinator and Media Affairs Director, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and Zainab Yusuf in Abuja, the group maintained that the millitarisation of the zone violates Sections 217 and 218 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

HURIWA also condemned the alleged invasion likening the incident to criminal and gross violation of human rights as enshrined in chapter four of the nation’s lawbook.

The group urged the United Nations and African Union to “note that President Buhari is treating the over 50 million Igbo-speaking people just like the Rohingya tribal people of Burma (Myanmar) through a well-coordinated deprivation and denial of the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

“We call on the UN and world leaders to take special note of the systematic marginalisation of Igbo people by the current government of Buhari similar to the experiences of the Rohingya ethnic group.”

HURIWA said the central government has “persistently alienated Igbo-speaking persons from top notch defence and political positions in clear violations of Section 14 (3) and (4) of the constitution and also failed to stop the incessant violent invasion of villages by armed herdsmen, resulting in the killing of scores of innocent persons in the South East.”

They went on: “The failure to appoint an indigenous military chief to represent the Igbo which is a major ethnic group violates the constitution which demands equitable distribution of positions to reflect national spread and federal character.”