The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has said that the kidnap and gruesome murder of a serving senior military officer, Colonel Samaila Inusa, is a sad reminder of a near-fatal encounter the country’s Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai reportedly had with some alleged armed followers of the Zaria, Kaduna-based Islamic Movement (Shiites) which precipitated a clash that led to the death of an undetermined number of persons.

The rights group has therefore demanded a comprehensive and thorough forensic crime investigation of “the dastardly and cowardly criminal act of abduction and assassination of the senior military officer, Colonel Inusa, to bring perpetrators and their sponsors to justice for this heinous crime against humanity.”

HURIWA said the entire incident was almost a replication of what happened to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, which was reported as a petition to the National Human Rights Commission and the law enforcement authority even as the venues of the two fatal and near-fatal incidents are approximately too close to call within the same axis of Kaduna State.

HURIWA said the possible slight difference between the encounters of the Army Chief and the now assassinated senior military officer was that the allegedly armed group that nearly attacked the Army Chief of Staff were numerous in number but the gang that reportedly kidnapped and killed the serving Colonel were reportedly few.

HURIWA said: “Although we are in no way linking the Zaria based Shiites movement with the dastardly crime of the kidnap and killing of Colonel Inusa but affirmed that the striking resemblance in the two cases and the fact that both incidents happened within the same axis calls for sober reflection and very intensive and scientific-based criminal investigation to determine the characters behind the unfortunate kidnap and assassination of Colonel Inusa.”

•Photo shows late Colonel Samaila Inusa.