Tuesday November 18, 2025
www.thenewsdesk.ng
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has condemned apparent silence of the President Bola Tinubu on the killing of Brigadier General M. Uba, by Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP ) terrorists.
HURIWA said the circumstances surrounding the capture of Brigadier General Uba by the Islamic terrorists and his gruesome execution, show the unprecedented penetration of the nation’s defence and national security architecture by insurgents.
The rights group in a statement signed by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Tuesday, said any functional government that loses a serving military General would by now be launching the most massive counter insurgency attacks with the aim of decimating, degrading and defeating the terrorists.
“Why is the Nigerian State normalising the abnormalities? Why are citizens slaughtered, military Generals and officers killed by terrorists but government keeps going about business as usual without taking any publicly known concrete actions to show national and collective outrage?….
“HURIWA expected that by now, the higher authority in the Armed forces of Nigeria would have set up investigative panel to uncover how the communication network of the security forces of Nigeria was infiltrated by ISWAP who reportedly traced the precise location of the General and his subsequent execution.
“Then why did the Nigerian Army lied to Nigerians that General Uba returned to base successfully with his troops after beating the ambush of ISWAP? Why are the flag of Nigeria not flying at half mast to signify the severity of the disgraceful capture of a whole serving General for the umpteenth time by ISWAP? Why did the ARMY not learn lessons from the year 2021 capture of a serving General by ISWAP?” HURIWA queried.
The rights group recalled that the terrorists ambushed the troops on Friday at Damboa Road along Wajiroko in Borno when they were transporting some military equipment.
“The ISWAP fighters reportedly opened fire on the military convoy along the road — an incident that led to a gun duel between the troops and the insurgents.
“At least 17 military motorcycles were seized by the ISWAP fighters, while two CJTF operatives and two soldiers were killed during the gun battle,” it said.
HURIWA recalled that following the ambush, international news channels reported that there were reports that Uba had been abducted by the insurgents.
“However, Onyechi Anele, the army spokesperson, denied the reports on Saturday, insisting that the brigadier general battled the “insurgents’ ambush with superior firepower,” forcing them to withdraw in disarray and abandon their mission.
“She said Uba led the troops back to the military base, adding that during the gun duel, two CJTF operatives and two soldiers were killed
Uba was also reported to have released a video statement, confirming he was alive, unharmed, and fully in command,” the statement said.
HURIWA also criticised the absence of a national broadcast by President Bola Tinubu following the killing of the General by ISWAP.
“The killing of the top ranking military officer should have made the security institutions commanded by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare that Nigeria is at war or to even escalate the threat level and then expand the counter terrorism war in the Country with a specific timeline given to the heads of the security forces to defeat the terrorists.
“It is sad that the General was let down by the institution of the Army to be slaughtered like a sacrificial lamb by terrorists and some of these same terrorists who were captured by the federal government in the past few months were reintegrated, rehabilitated with taxpayers money and let off the hook to return to the same communities in which they unleashed widespread bloodshed,” HURIWA said.
