Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has asked the Federal Government to declare as terrorists, bandits downing Nigerian Air Force jets, killing and maiming citizens all over the country.
The group also urged the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to leave separatists alone and ensure the prosecution of suspected bandits and Boko Haram members in the custody of security agencies.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the group’s Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, made this known in a statement on Sunday, titled, ‘HURIWA Cautions AGF On Yoruba Nation/IPOB’.
The group was reacting to a statement by the AGF Office that the government might proscribe Yoruba Nation group just like it outlawed the Indigenous People of Biafra in 2017.
Sunday PUNCH had reported that Malami’s Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Umar Gwandu, said the Federal Government would explore all options within the context of the law — including proscription — to ensure a peaceful and united Nigeria.
Reacting, HURIWA said it was unjust that the government proscribed IPOB and might outlaw Yoruba Nation separatist group but failed to declare bandits ravaging parts of the country as terrorists.
The group accused the government of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) of “being so sectional” and “carpeted the Federal Government for failing to declare as terrorists, the armed militia in the forests of Zamfara State who shot down a military jet belonging to the Nigerian Air Force.”
