We’re Monitoring Investigation Of Anambra Killings- NHRC

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has reacted to the killing of a pregnant woman, Harirat Jubril and her four children in cold blood in Anambra State, warning that violent agitation by any group will always worsen situations.

The NHRC while condemning it in strong terms, stated that it was allegedly perpetrated by members of the “Eastern Security Network or Unknown Gunmen.”

Meanwhile, ESN, the military wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra has denied engaging in the killing.

But the Executive Secretary of the Commission Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN said in a statement on Thursday that the NHRC will monitor the situation until security agents apprehends their killers and prosecute them accordingly.

He advised residents to provide relevant information about the whereabouts of the killers to the police if they have one.

“These senseless killings are not acceptable and we as a Commission condemn it and urge that the citizens must engage and collaborate with the law enforcement agents, by providing them with the necessary information that will assist them to fish out those behind these heinous and dastardly acts and ensure that they are prosecuted and possibly punished in accordance with the law

“We are keenly monitoring the Police investigation in this case to ensure that those who are behind this inhuman and wicked act are quickly prosecuted and consequently punished in accordance with the relevant national, regional and international laws.

“We must first of all be alive peacefully as citizens before we agitate for one interest or another, and always bear in mind that setting the Country on the path of violence and disunity will rather worsen or complicate our problems,” he said in a statement made available to journalists by Fatimah Agwai Mohammed, NHRC Deputy Director Public Affairs.

Ojukwu maintained that wherever Nigerians live in the country is their fatherland and as such, incessant killings remains a gross violations of the right to life and dignity of human person, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, among other laws.

He also condoled with those affected by the incident, urging calmness and restraint as the rule of law prevails.

The statement further reads:

“The Chief Human Rights Officer tasked the law enforcement agencies, particularly the Police and DSS to rejig their strategies and deploy intelligence-led security to get to the root of this instant killing and lots of other killings, such as Deborah Samuel’s among others.

“The NHRC Boss is using the opportunity to advise the citizens against any form of ethnic or religious intolerance and divisiveness which he noted are enemies of inclusiveness, national cohesion and development, recalling that Nigeria has had a regrettable history of civil war that came with unimaginable loss in terms of human and material resources, so we must collectively say no to violence to sustain our unity as a country”