New Telegraph

‘Why Nigeria needs judicial commission of inquiry’

 

Regina Otokpa, Abuja

A group, Save Nigeria Movement (SNM), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to administer justice to unresolved tragic events that have happened in the past.
The events, include the various plane crashes, bombings, killings and suspicious deaths of prominent Nigerians which have been swept under the carpet by several administrations.
The movement comprising of various Civil Society Organisations, stressed the importance of the Commission of Inquiry if true unity, cohesion and peace must be attained in the country.
Addressing journalists Friday in Abuja, the Convener of the movement, Mr. Solomon Semaka, raised concerns that the past sad events have continually widened the gap of Nigeria’s unity based on suspicion among other diverse ethnic groups.
While noting the issues poses grave danger to the corporate existence of Nigeria if they were left unchecked, the group also sought for an open national conservation for a lasting and sustainable reconciliation that would heal every ethnic group of the past and create a sense of oneness.
Some of the tragic and unresolved events as stated by the Movement includes: “The tragic 1992 Airforce military aircraft C-130 crash in Lagos State in which  over 160 senior and middle level military officers and the entire crew died.
“The 2006 tragic occurrence of an airforce donier 228 aircraft crash in Benue state that killed about 15 senior military officers and the entire crew, the sad incident of  Boeing 737 plane crash that occurred in October 2006 in Abuja which claimed the lives the late Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Maccido, his Son, Senator Maccido, grand son as well the then deputy governor, Alhaji Garba Muhammad as well as 98 others.
“To investigate and unravel the circumstances of the tragic crash of  a naval helicopter in 2012 in Nembe Bayelsa state which claimed the lives of Governor Patrick Yakowa, Gen. Andrew Azazi and many others, the bombing and subsequent murder of  Nigeria’s famous journalist Dele Giwa using a parcel Bomb.
“To reopen, review and unravel the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Gloria Okon and her subsequent mysterious death, the murder of Chief Bola Ige in 2001 and the burning and killing of the Resident INEC Commissioner and his family in Kano in 2015, the 2011 bombings of the INEC office in Suleja which killed over 25 people.
“The ceding of Bakkasi to the Republic of Cameroon and the attendant issues that followed, annulment of  June 12 election which was acclaimed as free and fair by both local and International communities, Moshood Abiolas death and the persistent and recurring crisis between herdsmen and farmers across the country over the decades.
“To investigate and unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of Stella Obasanjo, the former first lady, the death of Ms Arotile, the first female combat pilot the country has ever produced, the military invasion of Odi community in Bayelsa State and Zakibiam in Benue State and the genesis of terrorism in the Northern part of Nigeria.”

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