A leading Civil Rights Advocacy group, Human Right Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) has berated the Department of State Services (DSS) for its alleged failures to prevent attacks and killings of farmers and villagers by suspected terrorists.
HURIWA said that rather, the DSS often engages in raising unnecessary and politically tainted alarms as soon as the victims have raised their objections to these horrific killings by terrorists masquerading as herdsmen.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator, HURIWA said the group’s reaction followed recent alarm raised by the Department of State Services, in which the secret police accused some unnamed governors of North Central and North Eastern States of attempting to cause inter Ethnic violence in the region.
The text of the conference read in part:
“HURIWA however thinks that the Department of State Services was being clever by half by raising this specific alarm that some governors in the North Central, South South and North East states are plotting to create anarchy.
“It is laughable that the same Federal security agency maintained conspiratorial silence on the massive and coordinated violent attacks against some states across the country. Niger, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kaduna and Benue States have been badly hit by waves of banditry and terrorist acts.
“Benue has been particularly over ran by armed Fulani herdsmen in the recent times with more than 17 local government areas been worse hit by the terrorists. Yet, the secret police spoke up only when the government and people of the victims of terrorism of armed Fulani herdsmen have spoken out against the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the killings.
“For instance, Benue State says they have justifiably being pushed to the walls and their women, children and the aged are massively being killed and that they have no other option but to activate their constitutionally permitted remedy of SELF DEFENCE. Only then, the DSS came up with this conspiracy theory of plans to destabilise Nigeria.
“HURIWA condemns this conspiratorial silence and the willful inaction of all the security agencies to stop the continuous killings of Benue and Southern Kaduna farmers.
“Governor Samuel Ortom was compelled to declare that henceforth, decisive actions will be taken against the invaders”.
