The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike to concentrate on the arduous task of governing Rivers State and stop his garrulous criticism of immediate past Army Chief Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai.
This is just as the Rights group stated that the just retired military Chiefs have given their all to the service of humanity and Nigeria.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, the HURIWA National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said Civil Rights community appreciates the efforts of the retired Army Chief in setting up viable structure for the promotion of the fundamental human rights of citizenry in all internal security operations.
HURIWA therefore faulted what it termed the ‘jaundiced and politically tainted claims’ by Wike that the then Army Chief and other service Chiefs failed, adding that Wike should also allow plurality of opinions in his state and stop verbally attacking litigants who institute legal proceedings to challenge some of his actions like the lawyer who challenged the constitutionality of Wike’s huge investments in modernizing the Federal court of Appeal domiciled in Port Harcourt.
According to him, “Wike is busy pointing one finger towards the direction of Buratai and other retired Military Chiefs who spent over 35 years of their very productive working life in public service to advance public good, but the remaining four fingers point right back at Nyesom Wike who is known to be highly intolerant of opposition politics and has shown arrogance toward opponents”.
Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike had on Sunday said the former Service Chiefs failed to achieve much in securing Nigeria because they were fully involved in politics.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari last week retired the former Service Chiefs comprising the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
They were replaced with Major-General LEO Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff.
Speaking on Channels Television programme ‘Sunday Politics’, Wike said when security is politicised as done by the outgone Service Chiefs, nothing could be achieved.
While commending President Buhari for listening to the calls of Nigerians by replacing the service chiefs, he admonished the new Service Chiefs to stay away from politics and focus on assisting the President in his task of securing the country.
In his words, “like I said, if you do the right thing, I will commend you. If you don’t do the right thing, I will criticise you.
“Mr. President has done what every Nigerian has expected that he should have done. We are happy with what he has done but having done it, what is the next step?
“The next step is, you that have been appointed, what is your agenda? What are your plans to make sure that security architecture is improved?
“I have commended Mr President for listening to Nigerians. Whether anybody likes it or not, he did and we should commend him for that even though it came late.
“Now, those that he appointed, what is expected of them? Very, very serious.
“They must understand that the challenges are enormous and so they have a lot of work to do. They should not involve themselves in politics.
“Part of the problems we had with the former service chiefs was that they were involved in politics instead of concentrating on the security of the nation.
“They were very much involved in politics. Nobody can deny that fact. The moment you politicise security, then you are bound to have problems,” Wike said.
However, HURIWA disagreed with Nyesom Wike, noting that General Buratai and the other service Chiefs showed high level of decorum, decency and professionalism even as the Rights group said the service chiefs were not partisan otherwise they could have used “Crude tactics” to stop Nyesom Wike from winning the 2019 election which he won, in a landslide just as the group said as imperfect beings, the retired service chiefs had their negative sides.
