A Human Rights group, Campaign for Democracy (CD), has condemned the planned Operation PYTHON DANCE 3 by the Nigerian Army in the South East geopolitical zone.
The group said the operation being proposed is another plot to kill defenceless Igbo youths for unjustifiable reasons.
The group noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had constituted Operation PYTON DANCE 1 and 11 exercises which led to the killing of 250 and 150 Igbo youths, respectively, in an account of Amnesty International’s disposition.
National Publicity secretary of CD, Dede Uzor A. Uzor, who said this in a statement, said that another such operation in Igbo land, where there is no crisis, amounted to a deliberate plot to provoke the Igbo and kill more youths.
The CD urged President Buhari and the Nigerian Army to “shelve the murderous plot” with immediate effect.
Uzor also called on the Federal and Imo State governments to, with immediate effect, drop charges against 112 Igbo women arrested and arraigned at the Owerri Magistrate Court with 10-count charge of treasonable felony and related charges.
He said that these pregnant and aged women should be released unconditionally with immediate effect and all the trumped up charges withdrawn.
Uzor’s words, “We condemn in a very strong term the arrest and arraignment of these women of Igbo land. It is part of continuous intimidation, harassment and subjugation of Ndigbo in Nigeria by President Mohammed Buhari-led Federal Government”.
“The arrest of these women who were peaceful and without arms in exercising their rights should be condemned by every right thinking person and international community.
“The illegal arrest to intimidate and forcefully teargas old women of about 70 to 80 years to stop them from from exercising their fundamental human rights in a democratic regime negates the Constitution of Nigeria especially chapter 4 of section 33 to 40 of 1999 Constitution as amended” otherwise known as the fundamental human rights.
He said it was equally “Against natural and moral law to stop them from exercising their political right and embarking on political protest. It is alien in a democratic order and should be condemned.”
He called on the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to send their special repertoire to Nigeria to investigate this crime against human family and those allegedly murdered and thrown into an Aba forest in Abia State.
Uzor also noted that President Buhari’s continuous intimidation of the Igbo showed that he does not need their votes in 2019.
“That is why he has adopted the culture of intimidation, impunity and annihilation. Ndigbo should rise up and take their destiny in their own hands,” Uzor stated.
SUN
