GROUP BLAMES FG FOR JOS KILLINGS

A pro-democracy organisation, Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria, has condemned the breakdown of law and order resulting in the killings by hoodlums in Jos, Plateau State.

It cited the reported abduction of the father of Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi in Jos as the latest case of insecurity in the country and blamed the Federal Government for failing to restore peace in the troubled state.

On mass killings, the rights group recalled that only two days ago, nearly 24 persons were reportedly killed by yet-to-be identified assailants in a renewed violence in Plateau State.

The group, in a joint statement by its National Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, said it had completed a detailed petition on the crises in Jos to be sent to the International Crimes Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

HURIWA assured that it would pursue the matter with vigor in order to achieve result by demanding a probe of the killings by the Federal Government.

The body said its legal department had already compiled a list of the killings in the state that would be sent to the global crimes court.

It added, 'For nearly two years now since the killings started in Jos Plateau state, we have persistently appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan for an effective and permanent solution to the crises, including the setting up of a presidential commission on inter-ethnic, Inter-religious dialogue and the arrest, prosecution and punishment of suspected perpetrators of the mass killings and their sponsors in the competent courts of law but the Federal government has continued to politicise the crises.'