Group asks Otti to handle northern traders in Abia with care

An organisation known as the Coalition of Igbo Unions of Nigeria (CIUN) has asked Alex Otti, governor of Abia, to handle northern traders residing in the state with tact and diplomacy. 

In October, Otti said 20 headless bodies and countless human skeletons were found around Lokpanta cattle market, an area dominated by northern traders.

The governor said security intelligence had shown that the ransoms paid for kidnapped victims were dropped off around the cattle market.

Otti said the market would now be non-residential, only opening for business between 6 am and 6 pm.

In a statement on Friday, Obinna Okoroafor and Udoka Onwuka, CIUN’s chair and public secretary respectively, said ejection of northern traders from the Lokpanta market would have a boomerang effect on Igbo traders in the north.

“We have carefully observed that the ‘vacate the cattle market’ ultimatum issued by Governor Alex Otti has greatly increased the already tense socio-political atmosphere in the country,” they said.

“The plight of northern traders in the cattle market, if not handled satisfactorily, will set a dangerous precedent which will ignite violence and clashes in various parts of Nigeria against Igbos.

“We, therefore, wish to distance ourselves from the utterances and actions of Mr. Alex Otti whom we believe is playing to the gallery for political gains.”

They gave the governor a 48-hour ultimatum to apologise to the traders “who have cohabitated peacefully with their host communities hitherto”.