HURIWA Urges Tinubu to Rescue Kidnapped Kaduna Family and Pull Defence Ministers From Campaign Duties
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) wants the Federal Government to act fast to free a Kaduna couple and their three-month-old baby. Terrorists abducted the family. The group also wants two defence ministers taken off political campaign work.
The Family in Captivity
The victims are Mr Ahmed Zakka, his wife and their infant son. Armed men took them from their house in the Millennium City area of Kaduna metropolis, the group said.
HURIWA says the kidnappers later released a video from a forest in Kaduna State. In it, Zakka holds his baby while he and his wife beg for help. They plead with the government and the public to secure their release.
What HURIWA Wants
The group addressed President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (retd.). It asked them to direct security agencies to rescue the family.
It also called on the service chiefs, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), the Inspector-General of Police and the National Security Adviser. They should run joint operations, it said, to free more than 2,000 Nigerians it claims are held by terrorists.
In a statement, National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko demanded that the kidnappers be arrested, prosecuted and severely punished.
Ministers and the Campaign Council
HURIWA also urged the President to relieve Musa and the Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Matawalle, of their roles in his re-election campaign council.
The group argued that partisan duties could pull the two men away from their main jobs in the defence sector. It called the arrangement a disservice to Nigerians. In its view, citizens’ safety must come before politics.
The group also asked how Musa could attend the inauguration of the expanded and revised APC Presidential Campaign Council on Wednesday. Terrorists, it noted, keep kidnapping people from his home state and other trouble spots.
A Compassionate Appeal
HURIWA said it did not mean to embarrass the ministers. It described its message as a compassionate appeal. It asked the President and the ministers to act at once to save the baby and his parents.
Questions Over Government Duty
The group said the President has a constitutional duty to protect lives and property. It added that the defence minister and the minister of state oversee the Armed Forces.
It also described the alleged captivity of more than 2,000 citizens as a serious failure of the government’s security efforts. The abduction of a baby and his parents, it said, raises doubts about the government’s commitment to protecting Nigerians.
