A non-governmental organization, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) yesterday threw its weight behind the Brigadier-General Bala Usara-led military Court Martial that recently meted out justice to six military operatives for supplying sophisticated weapons illegally to militants in the Niger Delta.

In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group also charged the State Security Service, SSS, and other security agencies to comprehensively unravel those behind the spate of abductions and kidnapping around the country, especially in the South Eastern region of Nigeria.

His words: "On a human rights platform, we are skeptical about the human rights standing of most military court martial sessions and the quality of legal representations of the defendants at such proceedings.

Also, because of the sensitive nature of the alleged crimes of stealing sophisticated weapons kept in their custody and illegally supplying them to groups of fighters in a part of Nigeria to cause chaos to the rest of the country and therefore endangering the national security of Nigeria, we commend the proceedings at the Brigadier-General Bala Usara-led court martial because it met the international demands of justice delivery,"

HURIWA also appealed to the armed militants in the region to sheath their swords and embrace peaceful and constructive dialogue as the panacea to the problems of the region. "Armed rebellion has never achieved rapid economic development in any part of the world.

Only constructive and peaceful dialogues and the willingness of the federal and state governments to rapidly develop the region can bring about the comprehensive redress to the widely criticized underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region," it said.

Expressing worry about the rising trend of abductions and kidnaping for ransoms of citizens and especially political office holders and leading business people in the South East region of Nigeria, the group called on the SSS to uncover the gang members responsible for these ignoble, reprehensible and dastardly crimes in the country instead of concentrating their time and resources on chasing innocent journalists for allegedly publishing stories considered offensive to the Federal Government.

"It is the duty of all security operatives, the Nigeria Police and the SSS to quickly and efficiently unravel the murderous gangsters involved in the spate of kidnaping that are ongoing in the South Eastern region of Nigeria.

These kidnaping have further affected the South East region which has suffered massive neglect from the Federal Government for four decades. The kidnappers are economic saboteurs and enemies of the south east because they have scared away investors. They must be fished out and prosecuted immediately," it added.