By Mahdi Garba I hope you are keeping well during these hard times. I also hope this message finds you well. I am writing this let...
By Mahdi Garba
I hope you are keeping well during these hard times. I also hope
this message finds you well. I am writing this letter as an aggrieved Nigerian
citizen that is traumatized by the security situation of the country. More to
that, while all my fellow citizens in rural areas in Sokoto, Niger, Zamfara,
Katsina and Kaduna are finding it difficult to sleep with their eyes closed,
your nonchalant attitude towards their plight has become evident.
In May 2019, when you officially took over as the Inspector-General
of Police in the Nigerian Police Force, many Nigerians were joyous, having in
mind that your appointment will reconstruct the image of the Force. These
celebrants were optimistic that you will steer a Nigerian Police that that
would protect the lives and property of taxpayers without segregation.
Unfortunately, the hope of these millions of Nigerians has been
dashed by your actions since you took the mantle of leadership of the Force in
the last one year. Human rights abuse has become synonymous with the name of
the Force that is meant to protect the lives of Nigerian citizens under your
nose.
In a country that stated unanimously every citizen has the Right to
life, personal liberty, peaceful assembly and association in its constitution,
men of the institution you are heading have turned minority groups to
endangered species, specifically the members of the Sheikh Zakzaky-led Islamic
Movement in Nigeria, by depriving them of these constitutional rights.
In July 2019, some members of the aforesaid movement were attacked
by men of the Nigerian Police Force in Abuja, while protesting the continued
detention of their leader who has been kept incommunicado by the Nigerian
authorities since 2015. A total of 60 peaceful demonstrators were arrested and
kept at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit in Abuja, a body with a
track history of human rights violation.
In course of their illegal detention at this infamous unit, three
persons were tortured to death and their bodies deposited at Asokoro District
Hospital. I didn’t include the six people the Police killed during the protest
and deposited three bodies at the National Hospital, Abuja while depriving the
other three a befitting funeral. The seized bodies are still at the mortuary
since 22 July, 2019. Their families are still waiting for their corpses to bury
them according to Islamic rites.
The members of the Nigerian Police Force in other states have
borrowed a leaf from your book. For instance, in Sokoto these personnel have
mastered the art of taking laws into their hands. These are the same people
Nigerians were once looking up to, to put a stop to the unending killings in
the country.
In many northern states, Sokoto inclusive, the menace of insecurity
is obvious, which is ostensibly as a result of the failure of Nigerian security
operatives to nip the menace in the bud. Despite this, whenever members of the
Islamic Movement converged on Sokoto for some programmes, precisely for
#FreeZakzaky protests, their protest is greeted by excessive force from
armed-to-the-teeth personnel that have failed in discharging their
responsibility of protecting the lives and property of its people. Many
Nigerians, including yours sincerely have started demanding that the bandits
terrorizing the country should get a similar treatment.
This is not different from what is happening in the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT). Some followers of the detained leader of the Islamic Movement
have now make it a culture to peacefully protest the illegal detention of
Sheikh Zakzaky, which the police shot almost every day.
The recent one is on June 27, 2020 where some members of movement
were attacked with live bullets, teargas and water canon while protesting the
continued illegal detention of their leader in the country’s capital.
The men of Nigerian police have understood the Federal Government
is insouciant about the killings around the country while members of the
movement are harassed on a daily basis by the authorities.
Is this to say that the members of the Islamic Movement that are
known for their peaceful conduct pose more threat to Nigeria than Boko Haram,
bandits and other faceless groups? Or the government is not just concerned
about the incessant killings going on in the country?
Finally, I would like to call on you to focus on improving the
security situation in the country, not the peaceful members of the Islamic
Movement that pose no threat to anybody, as their activities have never become
a problem to any Nigerian.
No comments