Group to South-East govs: Ebubeagu killing innocent citizens

The Ndigbo Unity Forum has told governors of the South-East to immediately disband the Ebubeagu vigilant outfit set up to checkmate the activities of suspected criminals.

The group made the call in a statement it issued on Monday after a meeting in Enugu.

In the statement signed by the chief media officer of the forum, Chika Udemadu, the group condemned the incessant, unwarranted and extra-judicial killings of innocent and unarmed youths in the zone.

It said of particular concern was the latest brutal killing of a trader at Affor Ogidi Market, who was killed a few weeks ago as well as the daily killings of unarmed youths on the phantom allegations of having tattoos on their bodies.

The Ndigbo forum lamented that such waste of human lives by the security outfits of the same people they ought to protect had defeated the objective of setting it up.

According to them, the reckless waste of human lives by the Ebubeagu outfit is more pronounced in Imo and Ebonyi states.

The group condemned the needless kidnapping for ransom in the zone, lamenting that both the killings and kidnappings had affected the economy of the zone.

The statement read in part, “The Ndigbo Forum called on the National Human Rights Commission and other international human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International among others to investigate the killings in cold blood in the South-East region of the country.

“We commend the security outfit set up by the Anambra State Government, the Anambra State Vigilante Services. The activities of AVS are not known to have abused the rights of citizens and people of the state, and we call on other states to emulate the operational method of AVS.” Punch