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'Govt 'll Deal with Perpetrators' From Ahamefula Ogbu in Abuja and Wale Olaleye in Lagos
Perturbed by the spate of violence across thecountry, the Information Minister, Chukwuemeka Chikelu yesterday said government would do everything humanly possible to punish perpetrators of violence and other crimes in the country.
Chikelu said no one who hides the guise of religion to perpetrate crime would go unpunish even as the Special Adviser to the President on Public Affairs, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode sued for peace and pleaded that Nigerians should stop killing one another. Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights, Hon. Abdul Oroh, has blamed the recent killings in Plateau and Kano States and past such incidences on the willingness of government and society to tolerate gross violation of basic human rights. Another factor, which he pointed, accentuates riots and destruction of human and material resources was the fact that "right from the Maitasine riots in Kano in the early eighties to the series of massacres and ethnic cleansings in various parts of Northern Nigeria, nobody has been punished or brought to justice". According to him, the problem has thrown up millions of refugees and was worsening since it has kept spreading from one part of the country to another with its attendant loss in human and material resources. "The soaring number of internal Nigerian refugees shows the willingness of government and society to accept the gross violation of the basic human rights of Nigerians to live and dwell in liberty in their country as provided for in several international protocols assented to by the Nigerian government. "That this rapacious violation of rights of these Nigerians has continued is basically due to the failure of governments over time to address the causes and sponsors of the crisis across the country", he lamented. The lawmaker, who submitted that the collective cost of the various mayhems were inestimable, warned that it was in addition, giving Nigeria a negative image, citing the crises in Warri, Delta State, Nassarawa, Tiv/ Jukun and now Yelwa in Plateau State. Oroh observed that Federal Government has shown unwillingcapacity to contain illegal bunkerers and crude oil thieves fingered for the continued violence in the region while those in the Northern part of the country, he said, stemmed from religious intolerance and ethnic rivalries. |
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