Human Rights Commission Speaks On Killing Of Woman, Children By Terrorists In Southeast Nigeria

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has condemned the murder of a woman and her four children by terrorists suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the Orumba Local Government Area of Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria.

HumAngle reported that the victims, Harira Jubril and her four kids named Fatima, Aisha, Hadiza, and Zaituna, were killed by the terrorists on Sunday, May 22. 

They were said to have hailed from Adamawa State in Northeast Nigeria. 

Tony Ojukwu, NHRC Secretary, said in a statement made available to journalists on Friday, May 27, that the killing “was the worst form of criminality and human rights violation.”

Ojukwu said there have been repeated cases of abuse of fundamental rights happening on a daily basis with all being gross violations of people’s rights to life and dignity, which are guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and other national and international human rights instruments that Nigeria has enacted or is a signatory to.

“These senseless killings are not acceptable and we as a Commission condemn it and urge that citizens must engage and collaborate with the law enforcement agents, by providing them with the necessary information that will assist them to fish out those behind these heinous and dastardly acts and ensure that they are prosecuted and possibly punished in accordance with the law,” he said.

He charged security operatives to find the killers of Harira and her four children and ensure they bring all parties implicated to justice.

“We must first of all be alive peacefully as citizens before we agitate for one interest or another, and always bear in mind that setting the country on the path of violence and disunity will rather worsen or complicate our problems,” he added.

HumAngle recalls that six other commercial motorcycle riders were also reportedly killed at Onocha LGA of Anambra State.

The incidents triggered public outrage and led to the government’s declaration of curfew in seven local government areas of the state. 

Declared as a terror group in 2018, IPOB, a separatist organisation, is demanding the creation of an independent state of Biafra in the Old Eastern Region of Nigeria, comprising the current Southeast and South-south regions. 

They usually enforce sit-at-home orders to demand the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is currently in detention and charged with treasonable felony, unlawful possession of arms, and illegal importation of broadcast equipment at a Federal High Court in Abuja.