Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has condemned the reported extrajudicial killings in several parts of the country by security agencies enforcing the lockdown order of the Federal Government and some states of the federation, to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ekweremadu, who is also a member of the seven-man International Parliamentary Taskforce on COVID-19, made his feelings known in a statement in Abuja on Thursday by his Media Aide, Uche Anichukwu, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the security agencies to stem the needless killings immediately.
He said: “I am deeply saddened by the report from the National Human Rights Commission on the loss of 18 Nigerian lives in the hands of security agents enforcing the lockdown order of the Federal Government and various state governments.
“This is most unfortunate and condemnable, especially when we consider the number of Coronavirus fatalities in the country stands at 12, as at today.
“I call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the relevant security and government agencies to ensure that the reprehensible acts are thoroughly investigated and the culprits brought to book. We must ensure that law enforcement agents do not turn their weapons against the very citizens they are supposed to protect.
“While the lockdowns and other precautionary measures are very necessary for containing the pandemic, they must be enforced with every sense of professionalism, discipline, restraint, empathy, and above all, with the utmost respect for human life, which the lockdowns were put in place to protect in the first place”.
The lawmaker condoled with families that lost their loved ones and prayed God to grant the deceased eternal repose
