Military vs IPOB: Your mandate is questionable – HURIWA berates Gov Uzodinma over Orlu crisis

Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, has been knocked over by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria on Wednesday for justifying his action of inviting the military to the Orlu area of the state.

The association describes the governor’s justification and explanation as “feeble, illogical” and an “unwise decision.”

HURIWA insists that the invitation of military personnel to a strictly internal security challenge that does not require such intervention was an indication that the ”governor’s mandate is questionable”.

The rights group condemns Uzodinma for his unbridled utterance and for failing to secure Imo State lawfully.

The group debunks the governor’s statement, saying he invited the military to prevent anarchy in Orlu, says it’s similar to the EndSARS protests.

HURIWA said; “Mr. Governor of Imo State, you are so wrong to have rushed to Abuja to ask Mr. President to deploy armed soldiers and Air force to stage military actions in Orlu Senatorial Zone over the presence of some of your constituents who set up a platform to protect their lives and properties from attacks by marauding and invading armed Fulani herdsmen.

“What you ought to have done if truly your mandate is from Imo voters is to look towards the Imo State House of Assembly to make relevant laws bringing into being a standardized armed vigilante to work in partnership with relevant security institutions like the Army, the Police and the DSS. Only someone coordinating a politically tainted occupying force can head to the nation’s capital to seek the assistance of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to send soldiers, Air force, and Military Forces to stage any sort of military incident no matter how friendly in Orlu over a very simple matter of internal security governance.

“Mr. Governor is it not ridiculous that you are proudly telling Nigerians that you are not a governor with the real mandate of the voters because if you have the mandate of the people, you need not seek for external intervention to crush the Eastern Security Network when it is not a force seeking to overrun any territorial area in Nigeria, but rather it is a creation of necessity which happened to fill the void of security governance in Imo State. You need to begin to govern the State and Imo people like a governor with the mandate and not a man heading an occupying force. You need to organize a parley of Imo politicians and stakeholders to work out the best approach to salvage the situation of insecurity in Imo state.

“Besides, Mr. Governor of Imo State, the people of Imo must be part of the solution to the emerging security problems unless you do not have a mandate. So please get back to work in Owerri, leave Abuja, and govern Imo State well.

“The implications of over-utilizing the military internally are diverse, including grave consequences of illegality, human rights violations, lack of popular support by the people, and even the likelihood of its mode of operation robbing off on other civil security agencies in the light of inter-agency collaboration.

”This association can influence the police to become brutal or increase the sophistication and aggression of the terrorists who ordinarily should be weakened by the intelligence of the police or other trained civil organizations in collaboration with the people with whom the criminals ordinarily associate and sometimes live among.