A pan-Igbo group, Nzuko Umunna, has expressed concern over an alleged ‘shoot on sight’ directive given to Nigerian Army troops in the South East, which it said has generated palpable fear in the region.
A shoot-on-sight directive, it noted, is tantamount to an order to extra-judicially exterminate innocent citizens, which it said runs contrary to all accepted conventions and protocols on the rules of engagement.
In an open letter addressed to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, the group said that there is a huge possibility that such a directive and action could result in genocide.
It said: “If the speculation of a shoot-on-sight order were to bear any atom of truth, then it amounts to a declaration of war on the area. However, even if, for any reason, the Federal Government is minded to declare war on the South East or a part of it, there are standard international conventions and protocols that must be observed.
“One of such is the requirement to publicly and unambiguously declare that a war situation has arisen in such a place so that those who wish to, especially the civilians and innocent citizens, can withdraw from such a place. That has not been done.”
It said that there is no situation in the South East of Nigeria that does not exist in even worse forms in other parts of the country to warrant or justify such a shoot-on-sight order.
It therefore urged the army chief to use his office, in the overall interest of the country, “to not only clear the air on this very disturbing issue but also counter any such directive in case it has, by some fluke or stroke of overzealousness, been issued.”