HURIWA backs INEC on guber poll conduct
The House of Representatives has tasked the National Security Adviser (NSA) and other security agencies to deploy all necessary machinery towards containing the killings and destruction of property in Anambra State.
While the notorious Unknown Gunmen (UGM) are being blamed for the killings and destruction of property, the Federal Government has accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as the masterminds.
Amid the hullaballoo, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is insisting on going on with the election, which now seems threatened by insecurity. On this, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has got the commission’s back.
The green chamber, yesterday, mandated its Committee on National Security, Intelligence and Police Affairs to ensure that normalcy is restored in the state and report back within three weeks.
Chris Azugbogu, who moved a motion on matters of urgent public importance to the effect during plenary, expressed concern over security breaches in the state, regretting that a place that used to be very peaceful was turned into a killing field.
According to the lawmaker, mischief-makers, who are bent on thwarting the November 6 election in the state, orchestrate the killings.
DESPITE the deteriorating security situation in Anambra, INEC has vowed to proceed with the November 6 governorship election in the state.
This is as the Federal government blamed IPOB and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) for the attacks.
Speaking at the emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the spate of attacks in the state might affect the commission’s plan for the poll, if not curbed by the authorities.
IPOB had been accused of carrying out series of attacks on government facilities, including setting ablaze the headquarters of INEC in Anambra.
The recent attacks on the Department Security Services (DSS) and Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Nnewi have also been blamed on the separatist group.
Yakubu, however, said that available intelligence revealed that those attacking its offices and other public institutions in the state were bent on stopping the elections.
The NSA, Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), said the government had initiated steps to quell attempts to disrupt the poll.
AS a boost, HURIWA has thrown its weight behind the insistence of INEC to conduct the election as planned.
This followed the denial of IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, that IPOB has no hand in the killings. He rather accused a South-East governor, who allegedly planned to render the election inconclusive, to enable the electoral panel to give victory to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
HURIWA, however, said there was a valid reason to investigate this line of thought.
The National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the onus lies on the Federal Government to unravel the exact sponsors and executors of the unprecedented violence and targeted killings of Igbo academic and political elite that escalated since preparations for the governorship election in Anambra intensified.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
