Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Thursday, kicked against the shoot-on-sight order by the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba, saying it is reckless and undemocratic.
Afenifere in a statement by its acting Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said the order endangered the fate of people in Southeast Nigeria who he said seemed endangered under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Adebanjo said the situation should be a source of serious concern to well-meaning Nigerians.
He said the order was targeted at protesting Igbo youths instead of embracing dialogue.
The Afenifere acting leader noted that the same fate did not apply to Buhari’s Fulani ethnic group.
Adebanjo, who recalled the killing of some people in Benue State recently, said as one of the leaders of Southern and Middle Belt Forum that traveled to Makurdi on that occasion, he observed firsthand the positive identification of the killers by the Benue State Government.
He, however, said despite the incontrovertible identity of the killers, all Buhari had to say to the governor was: ‘Accommodate your neighbours.’
He said yet no one was arrested or indicted over the killings.
The Afenifere leader also urged President Buhari to run an inclusive government taking into account the multi-ethnic make-up of Nigeria.
Adebanjo said, “Take a look at the security council, no Ìgbò man is a member of Buhari’s security architecture…. Is that how to run a multi-ethnic multi-religious country like Nigeria?”
“Early in the week, apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, raised fresh worries over the directive to contain the tension when it condemned the “shoot-on-sight” order, insisting that it clearly confirms the uneven handed way the Federal Government had been treating matters affecting the people of the zone.”
He urged leaders in other zones to condemn the ‘shoot-on-sight order.’