Failure to rescue 39 kidnapped students, others shows Govt not in charge, says HURIWA

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) said the inability or unwillingness of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the Kaduna State Government to rescue the 39 Kaduna College Students abducted by terrorists two weeks after their capture signpost the imminent collapse of government.

Besides, the Rights group said the kidnapping of eight members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Kaduna shows that Kaduna has become the hotbed of religious intolerance, adding that the Islamic Jihadist terror cells may be active in Kaduna, North West of Nigeria and have upped their targeted attacks at Christians and Christian communities in Southern Kaduna.

HURIWA alleged that the Kaduna State Government encouraged Islamic extremists to keep attacking Christians of Southern Kaduna following the arbitrary decision of the powers that be to ensure that the heads of the three arms of government in Kaduna State are drawn from Muslim religion whereas other religious communities and ethnicities are marginalised and treated as second class citizens.

In a statement signed on Sunday in Abuja by the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA describes as deplorable and disgusting the fact that both the Federal government of President Muhammadu Buhari and the government of Kaduna State have not made any sort of efforts to rescue these innocent students.

The Rights group said the government has lost control and the only option left is for the entire machinery of government to resign en mass so another election is organised to bring-in competent people or President Muhammadu Buhari should dismiss his National Security Adviser (NSA) Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno who has been incapable of offering a workable solution to the widening spectre of terrorism in Northern Nigeria and much of Nigeria.

“HURIWA is worried that the President Muhammadu Buhari and the Government of the Federation has proven incapable of protecting Nigerians but still clings on to power and daily Nigerians are kidnapped without any form of security measures to pre-emptively stop the kidnapping of citizens.

“Now the kidnappers of the eight members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Kaduna State have demanded N50 million as a ransom for the captives. The kidnappers made the demand after contacting the leadership of the church on Saturday. Recall that the eight members persons were abducted on the Kachia-Kafanchan highway.

“The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has proven that it has nothing to offer by way of securing the lives of Nigerians and the President himself has also refused to use the instrumentality of the law to go after terror gangsters and bring them to justice.

“The government’s lacklustre approach to combating the extensive and massive insecurity threatening to tear the nation apart has been incoherent and rudderless. The Government must overhaul its security strategy and wage a law-based approach to ensure that terrorists, kidnappers, Fulani herdsmen are made to face the full weight of the law.

HURIWA recalled that around March 20th, 2021 gunmen raided a college in north-west Nigeria and kidnapped 39 students, in the latest mass abduction targeting a school.