Ndigbo Lagos, the umbrella organisation of all Igbo groups in Lagos has condemned in very strong terms what it called the incursions of the Islamist terror group, Boko Haram, into Igboland.
In a statement signed by the Director of Communications and Strategy, Chief Chuma Igwe, Ndigbo Lagos condemned the infiltration of Boko Haram operatives in the Southeast particularly the news that 486 Boko Haram suspects were arrested in Abia State by Nigerian soldiers.
“Even more condemnable is the official information from the Nigerian Army that amongst them was identified a notorious and wanted kingpin of the dreaded murderous Boko Haram. It is instructive that the apprehension of these 486 suspected Boko Haram members in 33 Toyota Hiace buses in Abia State, along Enugu-Port Harcourt road at about 2.00 am, occurred just a few days after the timely discovery of 6 time-bombs at the Port Harcourt Road branch of Winners Chapel Church, Owerri, a church that reportedly has over 10,000 worshippers on Sunday services,” the group said.
Warning that an invasion of the South East portends very dangerous consequences for the Nigerian nation, the group said it was putting the Federal Government and Islamic religious groups on notice.
The full statement reads:
Ndigbo Lagos, the umbrella body of all Igbo organizations in Lagos regards with utmost horror the news that 486 Boko Haram suspects were arrested in Abia State by Nigerian soldiers. Even more condemnable is the official information from the Nigerian Army that amongst them was identified a notorious and wanted kingpin of the dreaded murderous Boko Haram. It is instructive that the apprehension of these 486 suspected Boko Haram members in 33 Toyota Hiace buses in Abia State, along Enugu-Port Harcourt road at about 2.00 am, occurred just a few days after the timely discovery of 6 time-bombs at the Port Harcourt Road branch of Winners Chapel Church, Owerri, a church that reportedly has over 10,000 worshippers on Sunday services.
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, with Amoured Personnel Carrierba
While we salute the gallantry and courage of the Nigerian army for intercepting the suspects, and the vigilance of the worshippers in identifying the bombs, there are indications that these recent subtle but deliberate push by the terrorists into Igbo land has included the use of Fulani herds’ men to penetrate and infiltrate the underbelly of South Eastern part of Nigeria from the remote frontier villages of Enugu and Ebonyi States. It is on record that, among many such complaints, in recent weeks the people of Ezeagu Local Government of Enugu State have cried out about infiltration of their villages by AK47 wielding ‘Fulani Herdsmen’. According to the Vanguard Newspaper of June 10 2014 Dr Obiorah Ozobu, the President General of Ezeagu General Assembly was quoted as saying that in a neighbouring village “… a farmer was shot dead by these Fulani people and we have had three reported cases of rape of village women that went to their farm.’’
When these occurrences are juxtaposed against the statement by Major General Chris Olukolade, Director of Defense Information (Vanguard, April 23; Leadership, April 24; Nigerian Tribune, April 24) revealing that the identification of these marauding semi-nomadic as including elements of the Boko Haram terrorists was made in the course of interrogating the Fulani herdsmen who were arrested after a series of killings of hundreds of innocent babies, children and the aged in Taraba state then it is a great cause for concern. Such rape, arson and murderous attacks have also been visited on many minority
ethnic nationalities in Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Kaduna and Plateau States among others.
Let’s be clear. Cattle rearing are private commercial ventures and not a public infrastructure.
This is the 21st Century and nomadic cattle grazing are outdated. In saner climes, livestock farmers acquire land, cultivate vegetation or buy feed, sink boreholes and pen their animals. And this affords them better security, veterinary services and market accessibility.
The Igbo Nation had in the past suffered the most, through a reprehensible genocide and a
Military/Political diarchic conspiracy that has left them with little or no Federal infrastructure presence in a country that has spent budgeted tens of trillion of Naira over the past 40 years. Paradoxically Ndigbo who dwell peacefully all over the country have labored to develop many Nigerian towns and cities more than any other nationality group in Nigeria can claim.
There is presently no doubt about the intentions of Boko Haram and the Fulani herds men to plunge this nation into darkness including the invasion of the South Eastern region. We call on the Nigerian Government to unequivocally deploy all its military might in crushing this vermin called Boko Haram before it consumes the Nation. We also use this medium to caution those politicians, religious leaders and regional irredentists in the North whose rhetoric and body language have in the past two years stoked the amber of terrorism. We call on the Sultan, Emirs and Political leaders of the North with conscience to completely demonstrate their relevance by leading this war against terrorism from the front without recourse to sophistry, if together we must avoid avert the calamity that is now enveloping
Nigeria- a country we have all labored to build in the past hundred years. They need to rein them in.
We warn those who ride the tiger that they are bound to end in its belly, earlier than they imagine.
Ndigbo Lagos warns that an invasion of the South East portends very dangerous consequences for the Nigerian nation, even on a scale previously unimagined. Ndigbo are peace-loving and industrious people blessed by God. We at the leadership of Ndigbo are ever willing and ready to promote the peace and prosperity of Nigeria. But we are concerned about the possible reaction of our Youths who have endured loss of lives and property with the attendant psychological degradations over the years, even as many of them have been forced to relocate back home as the only secure place they can live in peace.
Now, they have nowhere to run to anymore. We are putting the Federal Government, the cultural and Islamic religion leadership in the North, and indeed all patriotic Nigerians on notice.
Long live Ndigbo!
Long live Nigeria!!
Signed
Chief Chuma Igwe
Director of Communications and Strategy
Ndigbo Lagos.
