Jacinta Chisom OguadinmaHuman Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has called for steady surveillance of the Second Niger Bridge to stop vandalisation of the bridge by vandal criminals.
HURIWA also urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make a declaration for the armed security officers to shoot on sight any vandal caught vandalising parts of the 2nd Niger Bridge.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHURIWA made this call in a press statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, who expressed shock reading from the Desk of Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, over the vandalisation of the Second Niger Bridge. Obi in his X handle (formally Twitter) said, “I like to thank immensely the young man, Lord Zeus, driven by patriotism and courage to raise alarm on the vandalisation of the second Niger bridge.”
According to Obi’s statement, which came as a result of a video shared by a social media influencer, identified as Lord Zeus. Lord Zeus, while narrating how some metals installed at expansion joints in the Second Niger bridge were been removed by vandals, advised drivers to be cautious of the spots, especially at night. The video also showed some of the heavy metals removed by vandals lying on the bridge.
HURIWA suggested that the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, expedite action in setting up permanent armed security services coordinated by youths to be passed into law by the Anambra State House of Assembly for the purposes of providing unassailable and all-round security surveillance in and around the second Niger Bridge, alongside the security services drawn from the armed forces of Nigeria.
The statement said: “The Anambra State House of Assembly should quickly and very rapidly, amend the relevant laws of Anambra State to permit the shooting-at-sight any visible vandals caught actively in the dastardly criminal act of sabotaging of the most strategic national asset built for South East, which is the second Niger Bridge.”
“The government should deploy technology to fight this economic sabotage and terrorism by vandals such as sophisticated drones and install access control systems to check infiltration by saboteurs on the Second Niger Bridge,” HURIWA added.
HURIWA also stressed the need for federal and the surrounding states with primary oversight by Delta and Anambra states to move perimeter security to adequately secure the second Niger Bridge and as well must mount and operate all round CCTV in and around the bridge.
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HURIWA stated that vandalisation of the newly built second Niger Bridge which criss-crosses Delta, is the greatest and most treasonous act of coordinated economic sabotage and terrorism which should never be tolerated by all Nigerians. It observed that the incident of vandalism of this important passage into the Eastern Region of Nigeria is not a mere coincidence but an act of high treason and terrorism coordinated and funded by the same undesirable elements creating seemingly unending chaos, anarchy and doom in the South East just as the Rights group has called for well-grounded investigation by forensic and criminologists to get to the root of this agenda of decimating and destroying the newly built second Niger Bridge.
The Rights group called on states in South East and South South, adjourning the second Niger Bridge to immediately put up an armed youth-led vigilante to protect the infrastructure all days and all nights, adding that the security operatives to be drawn from well-trained youngsters from Anambra, Delta States, particularly from Asaba, should be adequately remunerated.
“We also suggest that strong, reliable native/witchdoctors should also be contracted to provide their security watch on the bridge so the enemies of progress are eliminated,” HURIWA stated.
It also canvassed for the provision of adequate manpower training and motivation of security personnel drawn from the Nigerian armed forces and the states surrounding the Second Niger Bridge to be begin immediately by Anambra and Delta States, and cybersecurity measures be put in place for the safety of the modern transportation infrastructure and lastly, there should be perimeter intruder detection systems optimally operated within the Second Niger Bridge to weed out economic saboteurs.
HURIWA also called on residents of the towns and cities closest to the second Niger Bridge to provide credible human intelligence about the movements of suspected vandals damaging the bridge.
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