The military and other security agencies only roll tanks to communities destroying and sacking residents in the guise of searching for members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and its security wing, Eastern Security Network but will not defend communities being invaded and killed on a daily basis, Ohanaeze lamented.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has decried the vicious attacks on Igbo communities especially in Eha-Amufu in Enugu State, where hundreds of thousands of people have been sacked from their homes while the military operation, Golden Dawn, in the South-East looks the other way.
The military and other security agencies only roll tanks to communities destroying and sacking residents in the guise of searching for members of the Indigenous People of Biafra and its security wing, Eastern Security Network but will not defend communities being invaded and killed on a daily basis, Ohanaeze lamented.
SaharaReporters had reported that four communities in Eha-Amufu – Agu-Amede, Mgbuji, Ebor and Umujiove with over 40 farm settlements were sacked by armed herdsmen with their collaborators from Agala in Benue State.
Thousands of residents of those communities had fled their homes and been forced into Internally Displaced Persons in neighbouring communities and Enugu State capital and Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital.
It had reported that since January 5, 2021 that armed herdsmen had killed no fewer than 159 people including women and children as of December 18, 2022. The attacks of December 8 and 18 were the biggest since the invasion of the communities began, which had left 37 people dead while the security agencies were busy invading neighbouring Ebonyi communities in search of IPOB/ESN and looting small businesses while displacing residents.
But reacting to the development in Eha-Amufu, and the complicity of the Nigerian security agencies, the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, decried the vicious invasion of Enugu communities by armed herders.
“It is a very strange development that security agencies especially the military will be moving tanks inside peaceful villages, in the guise of neutralising and degrading IPOB/ ESN members but look the other way when armed herdsmen and their collaborators are sacking communities and occupying their lands and houses in Enugu state. The military in the guise of operation golden dawn are invading Communities in the south east. It is very strange that this kind of thing will be happening.
“There is no doubt that there is selective justice in Nigeria. Was it not the Cross River State governor who narrated how armed Fulani herdsmen were arrested and the next day they were left to go without investigation? It is also a selective judgement in Nigeria. It is not how you treat A is how B is treated. Otherwise how can an ethnic group wake-up in the morning and begin to kill their host and occupy their land and compelled them to desert their homes and they will occupy their houses. Now the people now become strangers in their own home and the government at all levels will be watching. I mean it is strange. Very strange.
“Of course, Ohanaeze is a persuasive organisation. It is not a coercive organisation. We can only advice, can only persuade, and can only request the authorities to act accordingly but if they ignore Ohanaeze, what do you want us to do? Onset of this we asked the South East Governors to release Ebubeagu. On the other hand what is happening in the south east and other parts of the country is evident that the security architecture of Nigeria is not meeting up the demands and expectations of the populace.
“So there's no doubt there is a need at the sub-national level to have security operatives that will complement the efforts of the national security architecture. In fact in any federal system it can't be less than four, five levels of security - one in the federal, one in the state, one at local, one at the community level and in some jurisdiction Universities even have their own security Organisation. Unfortunately, when we talk to them, they choose the one they will like to hear and the one they will not want to hear.”