The youths were killed during a joint operation by the military and police.
A human rights organisation, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has challenged military and police authorities in Enugu to come clean on the alleged summary execution of three youths from Ezioha-Mgbowo in the Awgu local government area of the state on Monday.
The youths were killed during a joint operation by the military and police.
SaharaReporters reported on Monday that the state police command announced that the team killed three members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the militant wing of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) who were allegedly planning to enforce the “illegal sit-at-home” in the state.
A statement by the command's spokesman, Daniel Ndukwe, said the victims were killed in the early hours of Monday, during a gunfight with security personnel.
SaharaReporters also reported on Tuesday that there was confusion over the killing of the youths accused of being IPOB/ESN members as residents of the community in question denied that there was any gun battle there.
However, the Intersociety in a statement on Tuesday, signed by its principal officers - Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, described as "false gallantry" the "unlawful killing" of the three youths labelled as "sit-at-home enforcers” in Awgu, and the silence and inaction of security agencies over the abduction of more than 30 travellers by killer herdsmen in two days in Enugu.
The civic group called on the state police commissioner, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 13, and the GOC 82 Division, Nigerian Army, to wade in and carry out a diligent investigation into the alleged unlawful killing in order to bring erring officers to justice.
The group called on the security chiefs to go after killer herdsmen terrorising Enugu state "or retire from the army and police".
Intersociety said that it was "saddening and shocking" that the security formations mentioned had busied themselves with false gallantry over the unlawful killing of “three sit-at-home enforcers” reportedly killed around 2 a.m. in Mgbowo.
"From our fact-checks including contacts made to reliable sources in Mgbowo in Awgu, the circumstances leading to the killings including their timing, legal and operational basis have been mired in controversies.
"Intersociety is therefore strongly condemning the two dastardly acts and calls on the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Military and the Jihadist herdsmen and other Jihadist fighting parties laying siege to the South-East to respect the dignity of the human person and sanctity of human life.
"They must also leave the defenseless citizens of the South-East and their properties alone."
The group asked the security personnel: "What are the true identities of those killed? Where and when were they killed and over what offense? Were they armed and on a rampage when terminally shot and killed? What types of weapons were they caught rampaging with when shot and killed?
"Were they unarmed when instantly or later killed? Were they killed over an offense in written law already or about to be committed? Can Sit-at-Home be enforced in the hours of the blue law such as 2 a.m.? When have ‘Sit-at-Home’ become a violent crime in Nigeria attracting instant death at offense apprehension or offense attempted apprehension?
"Which law in Nigeria or Enugu State authorizes Police or Army to kill (instead of arrest) ‘those enforcing or about to enforce Sit-at-Home at the wee hours of 2.am if true?’
"What proportionality of force was used leading to their killing? Is it true that the slain were arrested alive by a security patrol team in a residential location in the named area and extra-judicially killed in custody and falsely labelled?”
"Were the publicly displayed ‘un-prohibited firearms’ (pump-action guns and machetes) truly recovered from the slain? Were the slain truly armed ESN members?" the group further queried.
On the menace of killer herdsmen, Intersociety declared that no fewer than 22 communities and villages had been under the siege of "Jihadist herdsmen" and other assembled jihadists since 2022 in the South East.
"Their jihadist activities are also fueled and escalated by partisanship and complicity of the deployed security forces including the Military and the Nigeria Police Force," the group alleged.