Uneasy calm in PDP as Wike, others weigh options

. . . Wants Christians appointed heads of some internal security institutions

The terrorists responsible for the deadly terror attack targeting worshippers at the Catholic Church In Owo, Ondo State, may never be arrested by the federal government of President Muhammadu Buhari, going by the apparent cover up gambit that the Security Council has kick-started by naming ISWAP as the attackers in clear contradiction of claims by victims and survivors of the attack who had pointed to Fulani terrorists as the masterminds.

The above is the conclusion of a civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria  (HURIWA), which also `condemned the President for failing to visit the scene of the Catholic Church attack in Ondo State and, particularly, for not honouring the victims with his presence at their burial.

The group, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade  Emmanuel Onwubiko, claimed that the fact that the dominant members of the Security Council under President Buhari’s administration were Moslems, adding “the unfortunate fact that all heads of internal security institutions such as Nigeria Police Force,  Nigeria Immigration,  Nigeria Customs Service, Department of State Security and the Nigeria Intelligence Agency were Moslem Northerners and mostly Fulanis, same as the suspected attackers, it was practically impossible for the federal government to be transparent and accountable with the exact features, characteristics and identity of the terrorists.

HURIWA, according to the statement, maintained that the government was also involved in cover up of the armed herdsmen that attacked and killed many Benue State and Southern Kaduna people over the past seven years.

Besides, HURIWA said the attack at the Catholic Church in Owo was only one out of the over three dozens, including the attack at the Saint Theresa Catholic Church in Madala, near Abuja in 2011 in which even only one of the principal attackers who was arrested and reportedly jailed by the immediate past administration, Kabiru Sokoto, was speculated to have been secretly released by the current administration in 2016 amidst claims by Prisons authorities that Sokoto was still in jail. In that Saint Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla bombing in 2011, over 40 worshippers were slaughtered.

HURIWA said the fact that the Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, rejected the claim by the federal government that the Islamic State of West African Province was responsible for the terrorists attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, clearly showed that the President Buhari’s government was involved in a cover up gambit.

The rights group asked Nigerians to demand accountability from the federal government on why it has failed woefully to protect innocent Nigerians and especially Christians. The citizens must demand to know why there are no efforts by the federal government to punish terrorists but each time these terrorists attack soft targets, the federal government would go on overdrive, attempting to spread confusion and lies so as to hide the identity of the killers.

The HURIWA statement read: “We must bear in mind that the Ondo State Governor, Mr. Akeredolu, who noted that the federal government’s conclusion was too hasty, said he took the conclusion with a pinch of salt, adding that ISWAP members were known to take responsibility for the attacks. According to the Governor, the (FG’s) statement is too hasty. I take their conclusion with a pinch of salt. ISWAP members don’t hide their attacks. If they have done it, they would have owned up. We are yet to know their identity and our security people are still on their trail,” said the Ondo Governor.

“HURIWA then affirmed: “The Governor is such a meticulous person that also gets first hand security  reports and so what all these shenanigans  by the federal  government  demonstrate is a government  bent on masking  the real perpetrators of this crime against humanity  who were hitherto identified by the victims who survived the horrendous  attacks as Fulanis, same ethnicity  as President  Muhammadu  Buhari.”

“The painful reality is that the President has a notoriety for shielding his kinsmen from all sorts of accusations even without any forensic investigation to back up the claims by the federal government. President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has backed Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association when the Ondo State Governor expelled armed Fulani terrorists from Ondo Forests and Miyetti said it won’t respect the state government and the government in Abuja backed Miyetti. So why is this same Presidency playing hide-and-seek when those attacked but survived mentioned the ethnicity of their attackers and one of the eye witnesses even interacted with one of them who spared her life miraculously?”

HURIWA said the only way to combat these terrorists is for President Buhari to rejig the service Chiefs, especially the heads of the internal security institutions to balance the character of the holders to change from the Northern Fulani Moslem character to Federal Character.

HURIWA said it is illogical to expect that a national Security Council made up almost entirely by Northern Moslems could be trusted by others, especially from the South, to be truthful with information like that of the attackers at the Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.