Following recent incidents of alleged detonation by female suicide bombers of several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) concealed in their dresses, and attendant high rate of casualties in Kano State in the last 48 hours, a call has gone to the Federal Government to conduct comprehensive forensic test of the corpses of the dead bombers, to ascertain their DNAs and to clear the disturbing insinuations that they may actually be those school girls abducted from the girls college in Chibok, Borno State, by armed Islamic terrorists.

The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA), which made the call in a media statement made available to the News Express, urged the Federal Government to seek relevant technical and scientific assistance from friendly nations, who had volunteered to join the Nigerian Government to achieve a successful counter insurgency strategies; with a view to unraveling the precise identities of the alleged female bombers, and to transparently and publicly inform Nigerians of the outcome in no distant time. The Federal Government, through the armed security, should also conclusively resolve the prolonged abduction by armed insurgents of the over 250 school girls from Chibok in Borno State, to stop further harm from coming their way and/or stop the insurgents from deploying them as would-be suicide bombers on compulsion.

In the statement, which described as reprehensible and atrocious the spate of bomb attacks in Kano State targeting innocent Nigerians, the pro-democracy non-governmental organisation, through its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss. Zainab Yusuf, said it was imperative to involve experts in the investigation of the origin of the alleged female bombers, to disabuse the minds of observers who are already insinuating that those were some of the school girls kidnapped by the armed insurgents who may have hypnotised them and compel them to join their ranks of suicide bombers.

HURIWA opined: “Now that suddenly the armed insurgents are incessantly using alleged female bombers to unleash devastating violence on soft targets, the Federal Government must probe the origin of these female suicide bombers; even as the (Federal) Ministry of information and the respective ministries of information in the North must immediately begin sensitisation campaign, to dissuade innocent girls from being lured and hypnotised into embarking on the satanic errands of detonating high caliber explosives.

“In the event that these female suicide bombers are identified to have been the same kidnapped girls, then the government should immediately deploy all resources and strategies to bring to an end once and for all this shameful scenario since the military have repeatedly stated that they are aware of the whereabouts of the kidnapped Chibok girls.”

Besides, HURIWA also charged both the Kano State Government and the Federal Government to ensure the security of lives and property of residents, to stave off the consistent attacks targeted specifically at worshippers and commuters, especially in the Sabon Gari area of Kano municipality, where Nigerians of southern extraction live and do their legitimate businesses.

“The attacks targeting churches are directed at denying the citizens the constitutional freedom of religion enshrined in chapter four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, and it is the primary duty of government at all levels to provide fool-proof security to lives and property of the citizenry. Apart from the central government, the state governments are under constitutional obligation to safeguard the lives and property of their citizenry. The state officials in Kano and other northern states must show by words and action that they are committed to peace and the unity of Nigeria.”

HURIWA commended the Chief of Army Staff, General Kenneth Minimah, for introducing a range of motivational programmes for the men and officers of the Nigerian military in the front line of the counter insurgency. For example, the payment upfront of allowances and the enhanced medical assistance rendered to the wounded combatants. HURIWA charged the military authority to also completely eradicate the menace of bad eggs within their rank, who reportedly compromise the counter-terror campaign by all manner of criminal activities, including colluding actively with the armed insurgents to thwart the operational capabilities of the military. According to HURIWA, any act of sabotage is a gross crime against the territorial sovereignty of Nigeria, and all indicted offenders must be sternly sanctioned.

•Photo shows Chief of Army Staff, General Kenneth Minimah.

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