HRW, NBA condemn Boko Haram attacks

The international rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have condemned the recent attacks by the Boko Haram sect in some North-eastern states of the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 29 students of the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe, were murdered on February 24, while they were asleep in their dormitories
The sect members were also reported to have killed 32 people in three separate attacks in Adamawa on Feb. 26.
Ms Mausi Segun, Nigeria Researcher, HRW, in an electronic mail sent to NAN on Sunday, urged the Federal Government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Human Rights Watch calls on the Nigerian Government to urgently take steps to protect the lives of citizens in vulnerable communities in the north-east and to rescue the scores of girls taken captive by the insurgents in the past few weeks.
“These measures must be carried out in ways that do not further jeopardise the rights and safety of members of those communities.

“Furthermore, all those most responsible for these horrific crimes must be brought to justice as soon as possible,” Segun said.
In an interview with NAN, Mr Onyekachi Ubani, Chairman of the Ikeja Branch of the NBA, urged the government to change its strategies in tackling the insurrection.
He said:“The modality of the state of emergency declared in the troubled states to end this insurrection is not working.
“If you declare a state of emergency, then you must go the full length by removing the civilian government in that place.
“You can’t allow two institutions to be operating at the same time, because it will lead to confusion.”
Ubani called for the removal of the governors to enable the Nigerian military to be in complete control of the areas.
“What we need now is an institution that will clinically carry out the combing of the entire environment to fish out these terrorists,” he said.
Ubani also backed the National Assembly’s directive that the Nigeria Army should move its headquarters to the troubled states. (NAN)