– Human right organizations raised alarm over “ceaseless killings of unarmed citizens in Nigeria by security agents”
– The organizatons visited a borrow pit where they found 13 corpses of citizens who were allegedly killed by security agencies in Aba, Abia state
– The groups’ leaders wrote a letter to the minister of interior and the chief of defence staff
A person injured in a clash between the protesters and security agencies in Aba. The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, Intersociety and the South East Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs) have raised alarm over “ceaseless killings of unarmed citizens in Nigeria by security agents”.
In a letter addressed to Abdulrahman Bello Dambazzau, the minister of interior, and Major Gen Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, the chief of defence staff, the coalition said that they visited a borrow pit where they saw the corpses of members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who were killed in Aba, Abia state, on February 9.
Vanguard reports that the letter was titled “Pictures & Video Clips Of How Nigerian Military Massacred 22 Unarmed IPOB Members & Dumped 13 Of Them In Aba Borrow Pit: Why Security Chiefs Must Desist From Provoking More Insurgencies Capable Of Plunging Nigeria Into Syrian Style Violence”.
In the letter SBCHROs alleged that the security forces shot and killed 22 IPOB members and critically injured over 30.
According to the coalition, two of the 22 killed IPOB members were taken away by the Abia state police command, while the remaining people were packed in two military trucks and taken away by soldiers. In a facts-laden letter, the human right group revealed how corpses of IPOB members were discovered in borrow pit in Aba.
“On Saturday, February 13, 2016, some scavengers reported to one of the Aba units coordinators of IPOB that they saw some dead bodies in a borrow pit located along Aba Port Harcourt Road. The borrow pit was recently converted to a refuse dump by the Government of Abia state. “On receiving the report on Saturday morning, the IPOB members moved to the area where they saw 13 dead bodies battered and shrank with decimating chemical substances.
The 13 murdered citizens must have included those taken away alive by soldiers who were battered with gunshots. They were laid face down with their eyes tied and covered. “Eight of them were dumped together, while another three were dumped separately; likewise the remaining two. Shockingly, eight of the gruesomely murdered corpses have their hands tied individually behind their backs with Biafran flags. The “Biafran flags” used in tying them were carefully cut into lengths and ropes made out of them and were used in tying them separately.
The flags were parts of items and personal belongings seized and taken away by soldiers at the scene of the bloody shooting on 9th of February 2016 at the National High School in Aba.”
“All the 13 murdered and dumped IPOB members have their hands tied behind their backs and their bodies lacerated with gunshot holes. The chemical substances poured on them shrank and made them look old and taller than their normal heights; all for the purposes of erasing traces and defying easy facial and bodily identifications. Some pathologists and cottage medical experts contacted by Inter-society disclosed that the chemical substances used by killer soldiers of 144 Battalion must have contained a mixture of raw acid and embalmment chemical substances for the purpose of making the corpses shrink, old and odorless,” the letter read in part.
No comments:
Post a Comment