Terrorist threat: HURIWA asks FCT Minister to set up civilian JTF

A human rights group, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA), has called on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration to establish an armed civilian joint task force to harmonise operations in supporting the security forces in Abuja. The group reiterated calls for the immediate dismissal of the service chiefs, National Security Adviser for non-performance, making renewed case for the deployment of the 12 Tucano jets procured from the U.S., to bomb terrorists’ hideouts in the Northwest.

The group also berated members of the National Assembly for embarking on recess when the nation is under severe security threats by terrorists, as the group asked President Muhammadu Buhari to listen and take action on the warning from the Nasarawa State Governor on the presence of Islamic terrorists that have besieged Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

The HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) commended the FCT Administration and, indeed, the government, for reactivating the joint security operations between the FCT security establishments and those of the contiguous states to the Federal Capital Territory.

HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, indicated that the decision by the FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello, to rally the support and partnership of all heads of security institutions in the contiguous states around Abuja to embark on joint security patrols was a great idea that ought to be sustained long after the current heightened state of insecurity abates because security is not an ad-hoc arrangement but effective security is to be made as a long term objective.

The group demanded the establishment of a civilian joint task force with membership drawn from retired operatives of the security service and volunteers, whose background checks must be adequately conducted to add to the existing security structures in the Federal Capital Territory.

HURIWA called on President Buhari to brace up and battle terrorists as a statesman and not give room to suspicions that his administration has a sinister agenda to hand over the government to Islamic terrorists so that Nigeria becomes like Afghanistan governed by terrorists.

HURIWA declared: “We are worried that the commander-in-chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, got 42 reports of possible breaches of security in Abuja by terrorists, sent to him by the DSS but he failed to take proactive steps not until the terrorists attacked Kuje prisons and have since attacked Zuba and Bwari with scores of soldiers killed.

“This tardiness of president calls into question his state of mind and the need for the National Assembly to act fast to avert the collapse of constitutional democracy by conducting medical examination of the state of mind of President Buhari in line with the Constitutional Provision with a view to ascertaining why he refused to act on 42 intelligent reports sent to him by the DSS as disclosed by the Deputy Speaker.”

HURIWA said it is beyond imagination that a President with a vibrant state of mind could overlook 42 security reports of imminent attacks but is seen jumping all over the place to the prison facility as soon as the attack which he was forewarned took place. “We think his state of mind must be ascertained,” the group reiterated.

Also, HURIWA is worried that for two years running both the Niger and Nasarawa state governors raised alarm of the presence of Boko Haram terrorists setting up cells in their states but President Muhammadu Buhari refused to act to crush the terrorists. “Again, the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, has raised serious alarm over noticed movements of people suspected to be bandits fleeing from Niger, Zamfara, Kebbi and Kaduna states. This came a few days after ordering the closure of schools in the state following security concerns,” HURIWA noted.

HURIWA quoted the governor as stating that large numbers of the fleeing bandits had been noticed in Rugan Juli and Rugan Madaki in Karu Local Government on the borders of the Federal Capital Territory as well as Wamba and Toto local government areas in the state.

Sule, who spoke during an expanded security meeting held in Government House, Lafia, said the meeting was convened to take proactive measures considering the security situation across the country, particularly, the FCT, where over 800 inmates escaped from the Kuje correctional centre, recently.

HURIWA wondered why the National Assembly went on recess at a time of a national security emergency, just as the rights group has asked Nigerians to organize peaceful nation-wide demonstrations to force the government to be honest with the war on terror. “This is the time for all Nigerians to speak out loud and clear to stop Nigeria from being handed over by President Muhammadu Buhari to Islamic terrorists as widely speculated,” the group declared.