By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Worried by what it described as the phenomenon of able bodied young men from Northern Nigeria being allegedly smuggled into the South East and eastem part of the country in droves, a group, Association of Southeast Town Unions (ASETU), has petitioned the United Nations and the U.S. alleging ethnic cleansing.
In the letter titled, “Ethnic cleansing and land grabbing agenda in Eastern Nigeria,” ASETU accused the Federal Government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari of politicising and polarising the security architecture.
“In the last five years, a number of bizarre events have occurred including the bizarre over polarization of the country’s Security Council membership towards people from the north, the numerous reports of helicopters dropping off packages in the middle of forests in Igbo land in the middle of the night and other bizarre occurrences. Now we have the strange arrival of able bodied young men in such a coordinated fashion. These bizarre occurrences can only make sense if there is an equally bizarre plan at foot.”
The petition was signed by Chief Emeka Diwe, National President, Chief Gideon Adikwuru, National Secretary, Chief G.U. Mgborukwe, President, Abia State Town Unions, Chief Jimmie Asoegwu, Anambra State ASETU Coordinator, Chief Monday Ikokwu, President, Imo State Town Unions, Chief Ugochukwu Akpa, President, Ebonyi State Town Unions and Barrister Paully Eze, President, Enugu State Town Unions.
Dated May 19, 2020, ASETU urged “the United Nations, the US government and the international community to do all in their power to halt this barbaric endeavor which has gone on under the watch of the Federal Government of Nigeria for years now.”
The letter reads:
Motto: lgwe bu ike (Unity is Strength)
ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH EAST TOWN UNIONS (ASETU)
6TH Floor Old CCB Building. No 16 Okpara Ave. E-mail:asetu.nigeria@gmail.com Enugu – Enugu State.
Date• 19/5/2020
The United Nations Secretary-General, UN Secretariat, New York, USA
The President of the United States of America,
The White House, Washington DC, USA
Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect New York, USA
United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Department of State, Washington DC, USA
Attn: Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President,
Dear Sirs,
ETHNIC CLEANSING AND LAND GRABBING AGENDA IN EASTERN NIGERIA
It has come to our attention that able bodied young men from Northern Nigeria are being smuggled into the South East and eastem part of the country in droves. This is in spite of the nationwide lockdown, the ban on interstate travel and the 1000 kilometers distance between many parts of the north and the south on roads which are manned by Nigerian security agencies.
The volume of people arriving, the age of the people arriving, and the frequency and timing of their arrival in spite of the ban on interstate travel, due to the Covid-19 situation, indicates that this is a coordinated effort masterminded by an unknown group.
In the last 5 years a number of bizarre events have occurred including the bizarre over polarization of the country’s Security Council membership towards people from the north, the numerous reports of helicopters dropping off packages in the middle of forests in Igbo land in the middle of the night and other bizarre occurrences.
Now we have the strange arrival of able bodied young men in such a coordinated fashion. These bizarre occurrences can only make sense if there is an equally bizarre plan at foot.
This letter is to alert you that, should there be any seemingly random attack in the South East and eastern part of Nigeria, it is not at all random but part of a carefully choreographed attack that appears to have been carefully planned over the years and, in an insidious military fashion, is being executed to take advantage of the confusion and weakness caused by the Covid-19 situation.
It is not clear who the chief proponents of this agenda are but it is clear these are important people of means in and outside the government. Building on the menace of herdsmen that have terrorized many in the eastern part of the country, this additional effort joins in furthering the agenda of dispossessing people of their lands and forcing a different religion and lifestyle on them.
We in the South East and Igbo land will not allow this to happen. We urge you to advise the Federal Government of Nigeria not be a supporter of this initiative and not to acquiesce to it by omission or commission. The Government of Nigeria must identify all those that are part of this sinister plot and put an end to it immediately.
If these plans are not evil in nature, why would this secret group of northerners that are masterminding this be obsessed with land in the South East for example when out of the 19 states in the north, 13 of them are larger than the combined land mass of the 5 South East states (29, 525 Sq Km).
These 13 states range from 29, 833 sq km (Kogi state) to 76,363 sq km (Niger state) in size. Only an agenda of domination, ethnic cleansing and land grabbing can explain this interest. We hereby ask the United Nations, the US government and the international community to do all in their power to halt this barbaric endeavor which has gone on under the watch of the Federal Government of Nigeria for years now.
On behalf of all Igbo people in and outside the South-East of Nigeria, we thank you for coming to our assistance.
Signed:
Chief Emeka Diwe – National President
Chief Jimmie Asoegwu – National Secretary
Chief G.U. Mgborukwe – Anambra State ASETU Coordinator
Chief Monday Ikokwu – President, Imo State Town Unions Chief Ugochukwu Akpa – President, Ebonyi State Town Unions
Barrister Paully Eze – President, Enugu State Town Unions
