HURIWA to Uzodinma: Be a father of all, convoke truth, reconciliation commission
Civil Rights Advocacy group:- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has admonished the governor of Imo State Senator Hope Uzodinma to stop his aides from attacking perceived political opponents in the media but to be a father for all and a builder of the state for the sake of his own biological children.
HURIWA said the back and forth verbal exchanges in the media between senior aides of the Imo State governor Hope Uzodinma and the spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) Ikenga Ugochinyere in the wake of the recent arson attack in his residence in his Akokwa hometown and the murder of three persons within the premises, was highly unnecessary and should be stopped.
HURIWA said that as the administration of governor Hope Uzodinma marks three years amidst relentless violence and campaigns of terror by unidentified groups, the emphasis of the governor of Imo State is to be a good father who should gather the people together irrespective of political persuasions so the state stops witnessing constant bloodshed.
HURIWA said organising carnival like Imo State council of elders as the government currently do is not the panacea to the Persistent political and security crises in the State but rather the Rights group said only meaningful, constructive, law-based mechanisms backed up by determination of the stakeholders and the Governor to ‘mend the leaking roof’ of the state by finding out where the rain began to beat Imo State realistically, proffer solutions and commence sincerest implementation devoid of political delay tactics and rigmarole. “Imo people need to be brought together so we tell our selves the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth because only the truth can set Imo on the path of growth, progress, stability and peaceful coexistence.
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HURIWA said Imo State is virtually bleeding to death and that no amount of media propaganda either by the current Imo State administration or the political opposition are enough to repair the deep seated animosity, discord and disagreements that are tearing the fabric of the state apart thereby precipitating Persistent and intermittent blood cuddling mass murders, targeted assassination and unbridled reign of armed non state actors in several ungoverned spaces in the State. The Rights group said rather than violence, politics ought to result in the building of Imo state into a prosperous, peaceful, lawful and a state whereby all the citizens of Imo State will be proud to identify the place as their home.
“The fact is that no matter how we look at it from whatever perspective, Senator Hope Uzodinma is the lawfully recognised governor of the state since three years now and it is the collective aspiration of every Imo citizen that the organised killings, destruction and constant hot exchanges of words between Imo State government and diverse politicians, are stoking the embers of hatred and creating a climate of fear in Imo state which is antithetical to the objective of the state to become the economic and industrial hub of the South East.
HURIWA recalled that the spokesman of CUPP Mr. Ugochinyere Ikenga whose home was attacked, some persons killed and him escaping death by the whiskers, has been accusing governor Hope Uzodinma of plotting to kill him. But the commissioner of information Mr. Declan Emelumba who denied the allegation, said Ugochinyere was inconsequential to deserve attention and proceeded to use other unprintable words to describe the opposition politician.
HURIWA calls on Mr. Ikenga Ugochinyere to allow the law enforcement authority to investigate circumstances and determine individuals responsible for the attack but the Rights group also urged governor Uzodinma to play the role of a father in Imo State and show compassion for the plights of victims of all kinds of violence in the state even if the victims do not share same political persuasion with him.
The Rights group through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko is pleading with the Imo State governor to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be composed of Imo citizens who have no political affiliations with both the governor and the political opposition so all the aggrieved persons and groups can be begged and a legal structure and infrastructure put in place to end all kinds of warfare against any person or institution in the state so Imo State can have the fighting chance of putting workable economic measures in place to enable businesses that have left Imo State to return and our jobless youths to receive the requisite skills trainings and capacity building and giving the financial empowerment to become wealth creators”.
HURIWA said the Imo State house of Assembly should pass the legislative tool for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation commission of Imo State immediately.
