The Coalition of Human Rights Groups has backed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai for exposing those behind the unrest in the country.
DAILY POST reported that Lt. Gen. Buratai had on Wednesday said embittered politicians, who were bent on destabilising the country were responsible for the rising activities of bandits.
He gave this assertion while hosting members of the 10-man Committee on Army of the House of Representatives, who were in Maiduguri on a two-day oversight function.
“There are myriads of security challenges we are facing right now in the North-West, North-Central and other parts of the country. I want to believe, and rightly so, that with the fallout of the just-concluded general elections, there are politicians who saw their defeat as a means of revenge, sponsoring these criminal activities and even banditry and clashes between the farmers and herders,” he had said.
However, the rights group warned those behind the serial acts of banditry, kidnapping and killings to desist from these evil acts and change their ways.
Maxwel Gowon (Esq), Executive Director of the group in a statement, on Thursday, appealed to defeated political players in the last election to use proceedings in expressing dissatisfaction with election outcomes without resorting to bloodletting.
According to Gowon: “Permit us to say that we are not in any way surprised by the revelations made by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai while speaking before a committee of the House of Representatives this week. In summary, General Buratai asserted that politicians are behind the new wave of attacks against Nigerians by Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and other killer groups.”
He also said some politicians who were defeated during the General Elections sponsor criminal as their own way of revenge for their rejection by Nigerians.
Gowon added: “The Coalition of Human Rights Groups in Nigeria wants to categorically state that what General Buratai has disclosed is not really new. Political support for Boko Haram is something that our coalition expressed concerns about shortly before the elections.
“On the heels of what the Chief of Army Staff has said, we are drawing the attention of Nigerians to five critical points:
“The attacks by Boko Haram, bandits and other criminal elements are centered on areas where the opposition had predicted they would win but were roundly defeated, which could mean that Nigerians in these affected places are being punished by the opposition for voting their choice.
“Captured terrorists, victims and security agencies have repeatedly identified political players as drivers of the acts of terrorism that have been recorded.
“The opposition had never hidden their glee each time there was an attack anywhere. They are quick to exploit the attacks for launching verbal and media attack on the government. This insecurity is what they are now leveraging on to plot a coup against the government as have been exposed by the Nigerian Army.
“We are calling on the politicians that lost elections to have a rethink and immediately desist from sponsoring killings and supporting Boko Haram or any terror group to unleash deaths on Nigerians. There are legal proceedings to expressing dissatisfaction with election outcomes without resorting to bloodletting.
“Not only is the Coalition of Human Rights Groups in Nigeria asking these politicians to withdraw support for the killers they have commissioned, they must also, because they engaged these terrorists to carry out the killings, come up with modalities for decommissioning and demobilizing the killer gangs while handing over inventories of weapons they issued to these killers so that law enforcement agencies can properly mop up the illegal firearms that are being used to carry out the killings.
“In conclusion, we are calling on the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, notably the Nigerian Army, to consider that the period of grace is over for those that have decided that Nigerians cannot or will not know peace. The battle should be taken beyond the theatre of operation; the identities of Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and killer mercenaries gunned down in battles should henceforth be investigated and confirmed so that those they are linked to can be tracked down. The military should co-operate with the Nigerian Police Force and Department of State Services (DSS) in this regard so that politicians or anyone found to be connected with these killers.
“We want to urge the Nigerian Army and other branches of the Armed Forces not to relent in the commendable efforts they have made in saving the country from the killers unleashed on the rest of us by the failed politicians. It is apparent that the situation would have been far worse if Nigeria does not have committed leaders in the military.
