Politics

Sack Aregbesola now over repeated jailbreaks, HURIWA urges Buhari

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Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has said the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, must be sacked with immediate effect over his failure to put an end to the incessant attacks on prisons in the country.

HURIWA’s position was contained in a statement on Thursday signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, where it condemned the jailbreaks under Aregbesola’s watch.

The group stated that, in the last five years, there have been over 15 jailbreaks under the former Osun State governor while over 3,000 inmates have escaped from custody.

The PUNCH had reported that terrorists attacked the Kuje Correctional Centre on Tuesday night, heavily armed with explosives, which led to the loss of lives.

During the attack, the terrorists reportedly freed over 600 inmates, including 64 suspected Boko Haram members who were held in custody.

HURIWA also urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to quit asking rhetorical questions on how the intelligence system of the country failed to detect Tuesday’s attack at Kuje prison in Abuja on social media.

The group demanded the President immediately set up a judicial panel of inquiry on prison attacks in the country and ensure that such assaults on the entire security apparatus of Nigeria do not recur.

The statement reads in part, “The spate of jailbreaks under President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, is alarming and condemnable. Even under then-President Goodluck Jonathan, who had no military experience or background, jailbreaks weren’t as rampant as what Nigerians see these days.

“The frequent and recurring jailbreaks show the inefficiency of all those President Buhari appointed into office and his unwillingness to sack them show also that the President tacitly want the situation to continue to fester.

“HURIWA demands the sacking of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; and his Defence counterpart, Bashir Magashi; for perpetual incompetence. We also call for a broad-based judicial panel of inquiry on prison breaks in Nigeria to be constituted.”

Lifestyle

HURIWA challenges Jaruma to show evidence, license from govt to sell ‘Kayan Mata’

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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has challenged a popular sex therapist, Hauwa Sa’idu Mohammed, popularly known as Jaruma, to provide evidence regarding approval of her local aphrodisiac, known as ‘Kayanmata’ from Nigerian regulatory agencies.

This was contained in an open letter written to Jaruma, signed by the HURIWA National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko on Wednesday.

According to the body, the popular s3x therapist has successfully hoodwinked young women with the belief that ‘Kayan Mata’ can help them trap sugar daddies.

“Can you please contradict this allegation with empirical evidence and science-based license from the Nigerian Government?

“There are allegations on the use of voodoo and ‘Juju’ dark magic, alongside these products in order for your clients to successfully trap men and do their bidding after sexual encounters. If these are just mere allegations, why then is there a popular belief that your products can help young girls catch rich sugar Daddies?

“You have also portrayed that your ‘Kayan Mata’, which literally means a woman’s property, is said to enhance love and intimacy and even make women receive expensive gifts from men out of inducement – is this not tantamount to love scam and false pretenses punishable in Nigeria, under Section 419 of the Criminal Code, which states:

Any person who by any false pretense, and with intent to defraud, obtains from any other person anything capable of being stolen, or induces any other person to deliver to any person anything capable of being stolen, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for three years?”

More so, your clients are alleged to be ladies seeking to win the hearts of wealthy married men, thereby encouraging the act of adultery. Adultery is a criminal offence under the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria. Section 387 and 388 stipulate imprisonment for two years, and/or with a fine for adultery.

“Although, adultery is not prosecuted under the Criminal Code, it provides for redress if a spouse can prove that adultery occurred. For instance, section 15(2)(b) of the Matrimonial Causes Act states that: “ The court hearing a petition for a decree of dissolution of a marriage shall hold the marriage to have broken down irretrievably if the respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner finds it intolerable to live with the respondent”

Again, we are not aware of any approval from NAFDAC, as such selling of unlicensed and unauthorized love portion, which suspectedly did not undergo evaluation and/or approval by the National or Regional Regulatory Authority for the market in which they are marketed/distributed or used, subject to permitted conditions under national or regional regulation and legislation is a crime and punishable or are your products accredited?

“Therefore, we are giving you 72 hours from the date of this publication to go to the media and repudiate the alleged efficacy of your products with an apology to the men and women you have allegedly induced with your alleged unlicensed and unauthorized love portions, which has infringed on their rights accordingly. Failure to do so, we may very likely take legal steps to force relevant Agencies of the Government to rise up and do their duty,” the letter reads.

Politics

HURIWA begs Buhari to release Kanu

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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in order to restore peace in the South-East.

In a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Director of Media, Miss Zainab Yusuf, the group implored the President to release the IPOB leader before Christmas.

A group of leaders from the South-East led by a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, had in November visited Buhari and begged the President to grant the activist an unconditional release.

President Buhari later promised to look at the group’s request.

The statement read: “People watched President Muhammadu Buhari from all over the World discussing with reputable traditional, non-partisan and spiritual leaders of Igboland who visited him to plead for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the President accepted to consider the request.

“But many weeks after, the Prisoner of conscience detained for canvassing for peaceful self-determination has not been released. In the Spirit of Christmas, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari to release the IPOB leader and to integrate the Igbo speaking population into the top positions in the internal security architecture of the country to restore a sense of belonging.”

Politics

HURIWA urges Nigerian govt to cooperate with FBI on Kyari

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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Sunday urged the Federal Government to cooperate with the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in order to unravel the fraud allegations against the Head of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, DCP Abba Kyari.

The group made the call in a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko.

HURIWA said Nigeria risks being tagged a pariah state if the federal government fails to cooperate with the US on the matter.

The statement read: “We mustn’t behave like a pariah state by failing to cooperate or partner with the United States of America in this and many other matters.

“We warn that this Abba Kyari’s matter is purely a diplomatic matter and not a matter that should be looked upon with the binoculars of Ethnic and religious prisms.

It’s our international image as Nigerians that is at the risk of being bastardised should President Muhammadu Buhari not follow the international law in handling this matter instead of looking at it from an Arewa or Islamic point of view.”

The US Department of Justice had said in a document last week that the police officer allegedly received bribes from the suspected international fraudster, Ramon Abass aka Hushpuppi, to arrest one of his accomplices in Nigeria, Kelly Chibuzo Vincent.

However, Kyari had denied receiving any bribe from the suspected fraudster.

The Police Service Commission (PSC) had earlier on Sunday approved the police officer’s suspension over an alleged link with Hushpuppi who is standing trial for frauds in the US.

Politics

HURIWA bemoans Nigeria’s huge debt profile, seeks renaming of Finance Ministry

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The frequent accumulation of foreign loans which had led to an increasing debt profile has elicited a reaction from the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA).

The group has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to change the name of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to “Ministry of Foreign Loans Collection.”

This call was made on Friday via a statement issued by the HURIWA National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko.

According to the HURIWA, “Vexed by the unrelenting applications by the Federal Ministry of Finance and Budget for foreign loans since the assumption of office of the President Muhammadu Buhari government in 2015, a call has gone to the President to rename the ministry of finance and Budget to Ministry for foreign loans collection.

We honestly think that the President should table before his weak Federal Executive Council the proposal for a change of name of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National planning to the Federal Ministry for Foreign Loans and Debts accumulation.

This is because Nigerians have come to see that the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed does nothing else than inundating Nigerians with the bad news of the constant requests from all kinds of places around the world for external loans which are actually not being utilised to grow the economy or advance the living conditions of Nigerians, but these huge loans are used to service the ballooning costs of running government and paying juicy allowances to Federal government officials”.

HURIWA further slammed the assertion by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan who stated that the poor state of the economy was the reason for the frequent loan applications.

The statement further reads that it “made no sense to accept such a fallacy from the Senate President because in the first place, Nigeria is not poor but resource rich but has poor and corruption infested political leadership and importantly, poor nations without resources aren’t given or granted loans by creditors unless such debtors have collateral by way of resources that the creditors like China can fall back on if Nigeria fails to meet her repayment conditionality.”

Politics

Buhari’s refusal to appoint Igbo Army Chief shows he doesn’t believe in one Nigeria – HURIWA

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Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has tackled President Muhammadu for once again appointing a northerner as the Chief of Army Staff.

National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement on Thursday, said the President’s refusal to appoint an Army Chief from the South-Eastern region shows that he does not believe in the unity of the country.

Buhari, on Thursday appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff following the tragic death of the former COAS, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, in a plane crash last Friday.

Attahiru, his predecessor Buratai and successor Yakubu are all from Northern Nigeria.

Reacting to the latest appointment of a new COAS, HURIWA in a statement titled, ‘New Army Chief: We Are No Longer Shocked By Buhari’s Primitive Nepotism’, criticised President Buhari for not distributing his appointments across all the socio-ethnic interests in the country.

The statement read in part; “The shameless, nepotistic decision of President Buhari to continue in the illegal and unconstitutional abuses of appointing only Hausa/Fulani citizens into juicy Internal Security positions in breach of the Nigerian Constitutional provision of Federal Character is despicable, reprehensible and totally toxic.”

The group accused Buhari of violating his constitutional oath of office by his aversion to respect the Federal Character principle.

Buhari’s refusal to appoint an officer from the South-East of Nigeria as the Army Chief of Staff even when he is the most senior of the Major Generals further solidify his notoriety as someone who does not believe in one Nigeria,” HURIWA stated

Meanwhile, Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, had criticised the President for appointing four service chiefs and an acting Inspector General of Police without any of the five appointees being of Igbo extraction.

Ohanaeze had said the injustice of the Federal Government under the leadership of Buhari was responsible for the growing agitations and insecurity in the South-East.

Politics

HURIWA urges Nigerians to boycott NIN enrollment

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The Human Rights Writers Association Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Monday urged Nigerians to massively boycott the National Identification Number (NIN) enrollment exercise.

HURIWA made the call in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko.

The group said the Federal Government’s directive for the citizens to link their NIN to their Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards came at the wrong time and a threat to their lives.

It also described the federal government’s refusal to halt the NIN enrollment despite the COVID-19 pandemic as insensitive and irresponsible.

The statement read: “The reason for the people of Nigeria to protest against this policy of government is not that it is a bad policy; but the timing of the implementation of that policy is suicidal.

“That the Nigerian government has remained inconsiderate, irresponsible, insensitive, irresponsible and not being responsive to the agitation of millions of Nigerians that have called on the government to suspend the NIN enrollment exercise until such a time that the second wave of COVID-19 is checkmated, is disappointing.

“Therefore, the last card the people of Nigerians have is to massively protest either symbolically through active civil disobedience methodology or boycotts of the NIN enrollment exercise or physical demonstrations on the streets. We call on all Nigerians including policemen and women to protest.

“The protest does not mean physical protest alone unless they are pushed to their limits then they can come out wearing their face masks, observing physical distancing but anything other than this, the people can also boycott the exercise.

“Yes, the reason they should protest is because the timing of the exercise is a threat to their lives because the second wave of COVID-19 is on a global rampage and people are dying in their thousands in Nigeria and many who have attended that registration exercise have died from COVID-19. HURIWA has learnt of some fatalities related to that dastardly ill-timed exercise.”

Politics, World News

Human rights writers association of Nigeria slams inspector general of police.

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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has slammed the Inspector General of Police over what it termed “open and brazen disobedience and disloyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari” who gave clear directive and instruction openly and publicly to the state governments in Nigeria to constitute, judicial panels of inquiry into police brutality which was the basis of the End SARS protests.

The group in a statement on Thursday, described the decision of the police high command under the headship of Mohammed Adamu to institute a suit at the Federal High Court seeking to abort the proceedings at the different judicial panels of inquiry in different states of the Federation, as disgraceful, and a direct affront to the authority of the President of Nigeria and an unmitigated desecration of the Constitution.

HURIWA stated that it is irresponsible, insanely irrational, and senseless for the IGP to deep his hands into the public to file a case against the same public – his employers, adding that the Nigerian people are the employers of the police.

According to the association, “It is an indescribable disgrace that the IGP wants the court of law to stop the victims of police brutality from ventilating their grievances before the properly constituted judicial panel of inquiry.”

“So, what is the IGP afraid of or are his hands stained with the blood of the innocent citizens killed over the many years by Special Anti-Robbery squad of the Nigeria Police Force?

“Why is the IGP scared of the truth that are coming out from the panels of inquiry and why does he not want the victims of police brutality to obtain justice?

“The suit instituted at the Federal High Court by the IGP is provocative, unconstitutional, illegal, primitive, despicable and must be withdrawn forthwith or the IGP must be asked to refund the money used to institute the matter and be fired.

“The IGP will have to state if the instruction to go to court was given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari in which case Nigerians will have to see that the President is not honest about changing the status quo of policing which is deeply enmeshed in the use of torture and extralegal executions.

“This frivolous suit shows that the police hierarchy indeed supports the use of torture and extrajudicial killings by operatives of the Nigerian police,” the statement said.

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