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