By Yolamchi Ukaga, Aba
A socio-political youth group in the South-Eastern region,Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), says that the continuous killing of unarmed Igbo youths by the army and other security agencies in the South-East region of Nigeria is a plan to annihilate Christians and Ndigbo.
The group, particularly, condemned the gruesome killing of an unarmed youth at Gas Line by Expressway, Aba, Abia state- an act allegedly perpetrated by soldiers.
They described the killing as a criminal act of terrorism which must be investigated and the perpetrators fished out and sanctioned, in accordance with the law of the land.
The group, in a statement jointly signed by its President and Secretary General, Hon. Goodluck Ibe, and Comrade Kanice Igwe, the group stated that, under the 1999 constitution, as amended and human rights treaties to which Nigeria is signatory to, the authorities are obligated to respect and protect the right to life and security of persons, the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly of everyone under it.
The group noted that continuous killing of unarmed Igbo youths by the army and other security agencies in South-East, amounted to genocide.
According to the statement, “The Nigerian Army in South-East cannot operate as if Nigeria is a banana republic with no rules, regulations or laws, in which case the army and other security operatives could just wake up one morning and start killing people going about their legitimate businesses.
Even if anyone or group of persons are in conflict with the law, Section 6 of the Nigerian Constitution (1999 as amended), clearly spelt out how such a person or group, should be handled through a competent court of law.”
They called on the disciplinary organ/committee of the force and other bodies saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the army and other security agencies maintain and keep to the rules of engagement, to wake up from slumber and stop the constant killings of innocent citizens of South-East, by the operatives of the Nigerian army.
“What happened Monday, August 16, 2021, was a funded terrorism act, against the Igbo nation. There is no reason, in a constitutional democracy, for the army, governed by the law to kill an unarmed innocent youth for which no court of law has made any binding order for his execution.
We call on the Nigeria authorities to order a prompt, independent and impartial inquiry into the killing of this young man, by the army, identify suspected perpetrators and ensure that they are brought to justice without delay. We also call on the International Criminal Court (ICC), to open investigation into cases of extrajudicial killings in Nigeria”, the statement further read.