The group said the recent pre-meditated and callous killings of the 16 operatives, including some senior Army officers by gunmen in Okuoma community of Bomadi Local Council of Delta State, showed that there are many gaps which need to be filled to improve civil and military affairs.
The rights group in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the action was clear evidence that the military institution is lagging behind in civil and military relations.
He expressed consternation that many Nigerians are bereft of any knowledge of the necessity of occasionally drafting in soldiers on internal security operations in aid of policing institutions.
According to the rights group, many Nigerians, regrettably have raised posers as to why those military agents were sent on a peacekeeping mission in that part of Delta state that sadly resulted in high casualties.
“HURIWA believes that the military authorities must do more to bring about massive enlightenment and strategic advocacy campaigns to educate, inform and broaden the understanding of the arduous tasks of the military in carrying out internal security operations where the situation calls for such high profile intervention.
“It is only when the civil populace are made consciously and intentionally aware of the essence and telos of such strategic military engagement that their fuller and active participation and collaboration can be obtained to avoid any possible conflicts.
“In the last five years, the armed forces have not done enough to bridge the gaps between civilians and the military components of the society,” the group said.
HURIWA, therefore, called on the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa and the Service Chiefs to rejig and introduce transformative strategies to improve civil and military dialogues so as to win the hearts and minds of the citizens towards achieving the national security objective.
According to the rights group, the military hierarchy must adequately fund the activities of that department of civil and military affairs so as to deepen the scope of continuous dialogues between civilians and the military.
Onwubiko said much more than just hosting occasional, periodic and mere academic seminars by the offices of the chiefs of civil military affairs of different segments of the Nigerian armed forces, there is need to bridge the increasingly yawning gaps between the civilians and their military counterparts.
The Rights group advocated the active partnership between the military and credible civil rights organisations in the areas of organising broad-based strategic civil military dialogues in atmospheres devoid of mutual suspicions.
