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Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development, FENRAD, a pro-democracy and environmental rights advocacy group based in Abia State, regrets the tragedy Abia State has been made to harvest in the past few weeks, following the unprofessionalism being exhibited by security agencies who have adopted the ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach in delivery of their duty culminating in deaths, mostly of non-combatants and innocent civilians.
Last week, the Foundation issued a release on how, in Umuahia, the state’s seat of power, the military killed the manager of Damgrate Hotel following the reported drowning of a cadet. Till now, the military’s reaction has only been on paper. FENRAD cannot establish, as of yet, whether the trigger-happy officer who killed the manager had been made to face the law; there are claims now that the operation was not carried out by the military, it keeps getting worse.
Last week, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, the killing scene moved to Aba, the commercial emporium of the state, where a policeman allegedly attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RSS) killed a businessman, Emmanuel Michael Okocha. The city of Aba would have been thrown into chaos and pandemonium if not for the governor’s timeous intervention. The fact that these deaths are happening to innocent citizens who are supposed to be protected by these security agents speaks volumes about the unprofessional standard deployed in security provision in Abia State, especially in recent times. FENRAD urges the state command of the Force to call its operatives and agents to order.
FENRAD wishes to commend the police for making known the identity of the officer who killed the Abiriba-born businessman in Aba and urges the military to do the same (with the Damgrate incident). Right to life is natural and shall at no circumstance be cut short except where the law allows for such. It is sad that the policing standards keep deteriorating, and that citizens are still intimidated for possession of laptops iPhones and other gadgets. As it is now, Aba residents still see the RRS branch of the Force as the disbanded SARS because of operational challenges. There is a need for a rejig.
FENRAD calls on the state government (Abia) to expedite action towards building a robust police-civil relations in Abia. In this regard, the Foundation advises that there be a high-level security summit in the state with the governor who is the state’s ‘chief security officer,’ his advisers and aides on state security, commissioners of police and homeland security, the commandants of other security parastatals and all other security stakeholders. The need to emphasise the rules of engagement, to also ensure that proper briefs are handed to the non-commissioned police personnel usually deployed to the roads, has become more pressing than ever before.
If necessary measures are not taken, a degeneracy may soon result which may plunge the system deeper and deeper into the Hobbesian state of nature where life is short, poor, solitary, brutish and nasty.
While commending Abia sons and daughters for not taking the law into their own hands, the Foundation urges that a dialogue is sustained among security stakeholders.
Signed:
Comrade Nelson Nnanna Nwafor
Executive Director
Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy & Development (FENRAD Nigeria
Tel;/WhatsApp 08033383708,07062949232,
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Foundation For Environmental Rights,Advocacy & Development(FENRAD)
Plot 44 St.Micheal Road,By mosque Street, 4th Floor,Front ,Aba,Abia State.
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