KILLING OF SOLDIERS |Group Calls for the Investigation of Senator David Umaru

 

The New Initiative for Credible Leadership (NICreL), has called for the investigation of the Senator representing Niger East, David Umaru over comments that the group said were sympathetic with gunrunners that killed Nigerian troops.

Eleven troops of the 31 Field Artillery Brigade were killed in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger state by people the military authorities have described as gunrunners.
Senator Umaru, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights, sparked off controversy when he said the people that attacked and killed the soldiers during the military operations were his peace loving constituents.
NICReL Coordinator, Rev Stephen Onwu said in Abuja on Wednesday that Senator Umaru must be investigated to establish if there is a connection between him and the gang that was fabricating and hoarding weapon caches in Niger state.
According to Onwu, “Gunrunners, even if merely alleged so, should not get support from senior government officials and for a senator to place himself at their disposal as their official spokesperson is pure brigandage.

“The fact that the people of Niger East Senatorial District are peaceful  as Senator Umaru mentioned is enough reason for him to have personally invited the military to come and help flush out the gunrunners and any other criminal elements in the first place.

“The way he has now tried to cover the crime of those making and acquiring weapons to distribute for destabilizing other parts of the country is unthinkable. It shows a man who is not looking at the long term.

“Our prayer is that David Umaru would not learn too late that the kind of gang he is mixing with always turn against their godfathers in the end. Those who sponsored Boko Haram in the early days eventually had to flee the North East and we don’t see the senator’s situation being different in the foreseeable future.
“This is why we think the security agencies should be proactive in forestalling a repeat of what happened in the North East with Boko Haram by immediately finding out Senator Umaru’s level of involvement with the stockpiling of arms in his senatorial district,” Rev Onwu stressed.

He further called on the Senate to strip Senator Umaru of his office as Chairman of Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights as his conduct falls short of any human rights standards anywhere in the world.

According to the NICReL coordinator, the development in Niger East underscores why investigations into electoral violence should be revisited as some politicians have long standing ties with criminals whom they use to rig elections while inflicting pains on innocent Nigerians