By Dirisu Yakubu & Fortune Eromosele

A foremost rights advocacy group, the Human Rights  Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has chided the Police Force in Imo state for allegedly framing up citizens for fragrant violations of civil rights including the use of extrajudicial killings on the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

This is even as the group said the belonging to a proscribed group does not call for extrajudicial killings and depicts to the nation and the world that the country may not have a constitution that it follows.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, expressed disappointment over the lawlessness and misconduct of government agencies, saying that indiscipline is the fundamental cause of the degeneration of efficiency and effectiveness of members of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

He said: “If we may ask, the punishment for belonging to proscribed groups is it death by extrajudicial killings? Has Nigeria no Constitution and laws anymore? What DOES Section 36 (5) of the Constitution say?

“Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty; Provided that nothing in this section shall invalidate any law by reason only that the law imposes upon any such person the burden of proving particular facts.

“Sadly, in a state like Imo, the State government is accused of enabling these various ramifications of abuses of powers by the Police. The report of Amnesty International on killings by security forces in the South East with Imo occupying the principal place of dishonour is so disconcerting.

“Does Igbo lives matter at all? Why is the media glamourising Police officers who use unlawful force to kill suspects even suspects that are asleep?

“The Imo State governor compensated Soldiers and Police families whose bread winners were killed by unknown gunmen but no kobo has been paid to the hundreds of youths of Imo killed by security forces clearly identified in that Amnesty International’s report.

“The police as an institution that needs fundamental rebirth. Nigeria must reform the Police or the deformed Police force will permanently deform Nigeria. Police are hired for all kinds of jobs by those who can afford.”

HURIWA however, called on the Federal government and the South-East governors to speak out on the Amnesty International’s report, which the group said is credible, truthful and tragically outrageous and to take action to punish offenders within the security forces or they should be prepared to be individually named in the litigation that are being initiated by many local and international NGOS before the ICC in the Hague, Netherlands.

“We call on the Imo state governor to tell the World what he has done with the hundreds of detainees he accused of causing the disturbances in Imo State for which he named ‘politicians’ as sponsors of the disturbances.

“Again HURIWA is advocating the adoption of these Codes of Conduct as General Codes of Conduct for members of all Armed Forces of Nigeria”, he added.