The Nigerian Union of Journalists has called for an investigation into the killings and other atrocities committed by security agencies in Imo State.
Comrade Precious Nwadike, Chairman,Caretaker Committee and Comrade Austin Okoro, its Secretary General in a statement said there was no justifiable reason for the raiding of hostels in Imo State University, Federal University of Technology Owerri and Federal Polytechnic Nekede by security agencies, and arresting and killing of the students.
Read full statement
Following complaints by Imo people on reported cases of extra-judicial killings, unlawful arrests of young people, officials of the Imo State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) visited the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri and other health facilities on the 7th of May, 2021 for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and also got in touch with some security agents in the state.
For professional reasons and in keeping with our commitment to the society, as not to worsen the already tensed situation in the land, we refrained from giving pictorial evidence of the situation we met.
Given the foregoing, the Union yesterday met at the Port Harcourt Road Secretariat, and among other issues, looked into series of reports bordering on insecurity and cases of extra-judicial killings in Imo.
Arising from the meeting, the Union resolved as follows:
1) That we condemn in its entirety the extra-judicial killing of Imo residents, especially the young people and call for a probe into such reported cases. The union believes in the sanctity of the human life and frowns at the sudden turn of event in the state where on daily basis, we hear of deaths of people occasioned by the reckless use of firearms in the guise of tackling the security situation in the state that was hiterto considered the most peaceful in Nigeria.
2) We condemn the killing of security personnel by known and unknown gunmen or whosoever for whatsoever reason, intent or purpose. And we maintain that there is no justification for the arbitrary killing of anybody let alone security personnel and therefore call on stakeholders to halt the drift.
3) We demand the immediate release of all those unlawfully detained. It is a common law that no man deserves to be punished for the offence of others. There is therefore, no justifiable reason for the indiscriminate raid of students hostels as we have been told is a regular occurence at IMSU, FUTO, POLYNEK.
4) We urge the managements of the institutions affected to keep a close tab on the whereabouts of their students as the law imposes a duty of care on them, to protect these students. It is rather worrisome that to date, managements of the affected institutions have not condemned or made case for those students killed or demanded the release of those arrested during the raids.
5) We demand that the Federal Government should as a matter of urgency constitute a probe panel into the senseless killing of innocent Imo residents. More unfortunate is that majority of these people were killed by security agents despite the assurances by the Imo State Government that the people should go about their normal businesses without fear of being attacked or molested.
6) We are in a democratic dispensation and it should be norm that we are not just a democracy, but seen to be running a constitutional democracy. The atmosphere should reflect the fact that we are indeed a democracy unless the contrary is the case.
God is watching, and the world is watching.We advise that wise counsel prevails.
