Ndigbo Lagos: FG must rein in Boko Haram now

Ndigbo Lagos, the umbrella body of all Igbo organisations, has urged the federal government to decisively tackle the threat of Boko Haram and avoid a potential invasion of the southeast, which would have a spillover effect on the rest of the country.

In a release signed by Chief Chuma Igwe, its director of communications and strategy, the group expressed “utmost horror” at the recent arrest of 486 Boko Haram suspects in Abia State by Nigerian soldiers, and the official information from the Nigerian Army that among the susppects was a notorious and wanted kingpin of the sect.

“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 statement noted.

“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 herdsmen to penetrate and infiltrate the underbelly of South Eastern part of Nigeria from the remote frontier villages of Enugu and Ebonyi States.

It recalled recent complaints by the people of Ezeagu Local Government of Enugu State about the infiltration of their villages by AK47-wielding ‘Fulani herdsmen’, particularly the revelation by Dr. Obiorah Ozobu, the resident-general of Ezeagu General Assembly that a farmer in a neighbouring village was shot dead by Fulani people, while there were also three reported cases of rape of village women that went to the farm.

“When these occurrences are juxtaposed against the statement by Major-General Chris Olukolade, director of defence 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 is a private commercial venture and not a public infrastructure. This is the 21st century and nomadic cattle-grazing is 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 laboured 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 southeastern 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 embers 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 laboured to build in the past 100 years. They need to rein them in.”

Ndigbo Lagos warned “those who ride the tiger that they are bound to end in its bell earlier than they imagine”, saying an invasion of the southeast 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 degradation over the years, even as many of them have been forced to relocate 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.”