By Ben Duru (Umuahia), Chuks Ehirim (Abuja), Victor Ebimomi (Lagos) and Chibuzor Nwachukwu (Awka)
Jittery Northerners are fleeing major cities in the South East, apprehensive of reprisals for the bomb blast in a bus station in Abuja on April 14, in which about 40 vehicles, including luxury buses, were destroyed and dozens of people killed.
The death toll has risen to about 100 beside the over 260 injured.
President Goodluck Jonathan says the carnage was caused by Boko Haram. Although the jihadists have not claimed responsibility for the horror that has driven more fear into the hearts of everyone up North, they brazenly abducted 129 school girls in Borno State on April 15 after overpowering soldiers in a shoot-out.
The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has called on Igbo to leave the North.
“This recent killing is a justification of our struggle,” said Uchenna Madu, MASSOB Director of Information.
In Abuja, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman warned that Nigeria cannot carry on like this.
Down South, youths in Awka, Onitsha, Ekwuluobia and Nnewi demonstrated their anger openly, mixed with a rumour of reprisals against the Hausa community in Anambra State.
Potential flashpoints include Amansea, the cattle markets in Onitsha and on the border with Enugu State, Hausa settlements in Amawbia, Nnewi, Ekwulobia,and the Suya market in Nise.
Three Hausa cobblers apprehended on the banks of the Niger River in Onitsha were manhandled by a crowd.
Northerners who are security guards have been sent packing to forestall their being used by Boko Haram to unleash terror.
They and other Northerners who operate motorcycle taxis flee in broad daylight in trucks through the Enugu-Awka border.
The busy cattle market in Lokpa, Abia State is a shadow of itself. Likewise in Amawusa, Owerri and other settlements.
However, police officers have been deployed on the streets in Owerri, and Police Public Relations Officer (Zone 9), Emma Jakponna, gave an assurance that everything is in place to protect lives and property.
Jakponna reiterated that the zone has seen a lull in armed robbery, kidnapping and other criminal activities but the zonal command will not take chances.
Madu said “although MASSOB is a non violent organisation and we do not use arms or machetes there is this pathological display of emotions when one hears that a family member who left home to do business is killed, not by road accident but by people who claim to be your fellow Nigerian.”
He warned that unrest by youths in the state may be difficult to restrain.
“How will you feel when your mother, father or sister is killed for nothing? The first thing that comes to your mind is to revenge. So you do not blame the youths for what they are doing.
“Yes we are Christians and the Bible says if they slap you on a left cheek turn the other cheek. But nothing is said about what you should do when the same person slaps the other cheek.”
Madu reiterated the earlier call by MASSOB on “our brothers and sisters in the North” to “come back home before it is too late.”
In his view, “if all of us are back home we shall survive” and “develop our place economically.”
An attack happened on April 14 and who knows when the next will happen, he wondered.
In his reaction in Abuja, Abatemi-Usman warned that Nigerians cannot continue to live in fear and sleep with eyes open.
He urged the people to unite regardless of tribe, ethnicity, religion and political affiliations and assist the government to tackle terrorism.
“Those behind it must have a rethink, embrace dialogue and allow peace to reign supreme in our country,” Abatemi-Usman said in a statement issued through his media aide, Michael Jegede.
He described the killings as barbaric and ruthless and wondered what the perpetrators intend to achieve.
He said it is sad to continue to witness, on a daily basis, the massacre of innocent Nigerians from different parts of the country, particularly the North. He wondered why some people do not have regard for the sanctity of life.
He expressed sympathy for the families of the victims and prayed for God to give them the grace to bear the loss, and for the quick recovery of the injured.
A delegate at the national conference, Rafsanjani Musa, criticised Jonathan for visiting the scene of the bombing at Nyanyan motor park in Abuja, describing it as a public relations stunt for his government rather than a reflection on national insecurity.
Musa, a civil society representative at the conference, said: “You know that almost on daily bases, Nigerians are murdered in their hundreds in different parts of the country especially in the North East.
“The president has never deemed it necessary to visit these other victims. Is it that they are not Nigerians? The man is simply insensitive to what is happening in the country
