The former NBA first Vice President, Ikeazor Akaraiwe
has expressed concern over the gruesome murder and persistent
killings going on in some parts of the country.
The lawyer, on Tuesday though making reference to the way and
manner in which the military is taking to uncover the mystery
behind the disappearance of retired General Alkali, has urged the
Nigerian Military to deploy such energy and desperateness to every
alleged killing of citizens.
According to him, “To kill a human being except in lawful
execution of the law is both condemnable and damnable; and some
will say, in all circumstances, whether in execution of the law or
not. To kill a military person is, in addition to the above,
reckless, and when that military person is a General, it is
extremely reckless.
“That is not to say that all human beings are not equal, but
that is how this world works.
Thus, those who allegedly killed 11 members of Dura – Du
community one night are condemned and damned. And those members of
Dura-Du community who allegedly engaged in reprisal killings as
confirmed by Major General Benson Akinruluyo, the General Officer
Commanding 3 Division Jos, as a result allegedly, of the murder of
eleven of their own, culminating in the disappearance possibly
murder of retired General Alkali are no less as condemned and
damned, if true.
“However, the reaction of the military and ostensibly government
to the disappearance of retired General Alkali appears to suggest
that the eleven citizens who were murdered the previous day are
less important than the General who disappeared.
“Is the same ‘no stone unturned’ energy being put into the
arrest of the killers of the Dura-Du eleven and other citizens has
been put into the disappearance of retired Major General Alkali,
who without question is an elite citizen? I believe that military
personnel must be treated with respect. They lay down their lives
daily to secure our nation.
“Only yesterday at the ATM, an air force sergeant joined the
queue, and when it was my turn, I asked him to come forward to draw
his money over the objections of those on the long queue. I did
this because I believe our military personnel deserve the highest
respect. It will be helpful to national cohesion, however, if the
attitude to every alleged killing of citizens in Nigeria took on
the desperateness of the search for retired General Alkali’s
alleged abductors.”
THENIGERIALAWYER (TNL) recalls that Alkali, the immediate past
Chief of Administration, Army Headquarters, Abuja, was declared
missing on September 3. He was said to have gone missing on his way
to Bauchi on the day of his disappearance. Consequently, the Chief
of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, set up a search operation
for the missing General.
The Army authorities said that after a thorough investigation,
they narrowed the search to a mining pond in Dura-Du in Jos South
Local Government Area of Plateau. And, after two weeks of draining
water from the pond, Alkali’s car and two other vehicles were
recovered from the pond.
Some suspects have been arrested and they are cooling their
heels in police cell.