WITH one voice, a collection of Igbo elders and leading organisations, yesterday, raised alarm over alleged ethnic cleansing plans against the Igbo ethnic nationality in Nigeria.
They spoke on a day that the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, launched ‘Operation Restore Peace’ to check the rising insecurity across South East states just as the Yoruba freedom fighter, Sunday Igboho, cried out against an alleged plot by the Army to attack “Biafra people.”
Specifically, the Igbo elders and leading groups said the recent shoot-on-sight order to soldiers in the South-East and alleged posting of core northern officers to man eastern military formations were part of the grand plot to kill Ndigbo.
Igbo groups that spoke yesterday include apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo; Association of South-East Town Unions, ASETU; and Forum of Abia Elders. Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, also spoke in like manner.
Condemning the military exercise in the South-East, Ohanaeze Ndigbo said the shoot-on-sight order given to Nigerian soldiers on Igbo youths is unwarranted, warning the Nigerian government to learn a lesson from history by not fighting an unwinnable war against nationalism.
Ohanaeze rather advised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to “seek possible peaceful options that are the only solution that guarantees national unity and peaceful coexistence.”
Ohanaeze lamented that “subnational consciousness or ethnocentric nationalism which is a dangerous form of nationalism to national unity has taken over Nigeria”.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural body noted that “the dream of Nigeria’s unity is receding and fading fast with violence, crises and conflicts.”
In a statement by its spokesman, Alex Ogbonnia, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Professor George Obiozor was quoted as being “unequivocal that the current problems confronting Nigeria, e.g. ethnic militia, agitation for secession, insurgency, etc are products of sustained orchestrated injustice in governance.”
The statement read: “The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has been drawn to the “Shoot on Sight Order” given to the Nigerian soldiers on how to engage the Igbo youths in the oncoming weeks.”
The report further revealed that the exercise will commence from Orlu in Imo State, South East Nigeria. This is very disturbing, and that preparatory to the attack, all military postservice in the region has been made to be manned by Fulani soldiers.
“Commandant of the 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha, is Col. Abdulsalam Abubakar Sambo, a Hausa-Fulani Muslim; while in Imo State, the Brigade Commander of 34 Brigade, Obinze, is Brig Gen Ibrahim Tukura, another northerner; in Abia State, the Brigade Commander of 14 Brigade, Ohafia, is Brig Gen M. Ibrahim, still, a northerner; while in Akwa Ibom State, the Brigade Commander of 2 Brigade, Uyo, is Brig Gen Faruk Mijinyawa, another northerner. This is truly worrisome!”
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo is unequivocal that the current problems confronting Nigeria, eg ethnic militia, agitation for secession, insurgency, etc are a product of sustained orchestrated injustice in governance.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo warns that shoot-on- sight order to soldiers on Igbo youth is a call for another pogrom, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Ohanaeze asks the Federal Government to refrain from the use of force in resolving the present national crises.”
Another genocide against Igbo—ASETU
On its part, ASETU, in a statement by its National President, Chief Emeka Diwe, said the shoot-on-sight order was “an official declaration of genocide against Ndigbo,” adding that the order has increased the suspicion of “a conspiracy to wipe out Ndigbo.”
It said: “No nation should make such declaration against its citizens. That is not the solution to the problem we are facing. To begin with, who are these unknown gunmen? The security agencies have not come out openly to tell us who they are and the factors that propel their activities.
“In some states of the South East, we hear the governors alleging that these unknown gunmen are political thugs and hoodlums recruited to create instability by those opposed to their governments.
“Other authorities have different views about the unknown gunmen. How then could the order to shoot-on-sight precede the unmasking of the criminal elements? Will it also be out of place to think that these unknown gunmen might be infiltrators from outside Igboland who may wish to create a condition that will ignite military action against us?
“The three things that are mostly needed now are intelligence, stake holding and soft security. We must begin by identifying what the issues are and the actors involved, and have comprehensive action plan to permanently address the situation. Rolling out military tanks and administering street justice on suspects will not help.
“When innocent people are arbitrarily killed in the process, it will further fan the embers of anger, apprehension and possible escalation of hostilities.”
Use intelligence gathering, not discreet operation —Nnamani
In his reaction, Senator Ken Nnamani advised the Nigeria military to use information gathering rather than discreet military operation in dealing with the security challenges in the South east and South south regions of the country.
Nnamani said that using discreet military operation in the regions would be misinterpreted to mean ethnic cleansing and further advised that another option is use of Carrot and Stick approach.
He said: “Intensified information gathering and the use of modern technology will be more effective and advisable in dealing with the insecurity in the South-East and the South-South. ‘Discreet military operations’ could be misinterpreted as ‘ethnic cleansing.
“Also ‘carrot and stick approach’ should be considered. In this case, a contact group made up of highly credible indigenes of South-East and South-South should be put together to start holding difficult and honest conversations with the promoters of the senseless violent acts in the zones. These will achieve more lasting peace in the country.”
Rescind shoot-on-sight order —Abia elders
Also, members of the Abia Elders Forum comprising eminent citizens and elder statesmen including former Finance Minister, Kalu Idika Kalu; former Military Administrator of Cross River State, Navy Capt. Chris Osondu, retd; Professor Joshua Ogbonnaya; Arch Bishop Moses Ufomba; former Commissioner for Environment, Chukwuemeka Osuwa; Chief Isaac Ogbonna, among others warned against Igbo cleansing.
The elders after an emergency meeting in Umuahia to review the security situation in the country declared their opposition to the shoot-on-sight directive allegedly given to the military in the wake of the rising insecurity in the South-East zone
According to the forum, the implementation of the said order billed to commence in Orlu in Imo State, and then spread to other states in the zone is unwarranted.
The forum further claimed that the alleged deployment of core Northern officers to man Eastern military commands was part of the ploy towards actualising ethnic cleansing of Ndigbo and concealing evidence.
The elders also frowned at indiscriminate arrest and extra-judicial killings of Igbo youths after tagging them members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, or operatives or sponsors of the Eastern Security Network, ESN.
Such action, according to the forum, amounts to genocide in disguise.
Igboho vows to defend Igbo
Meanwhile, Igboho in a statement by his Spokesman, Olayomi Koiki, on Monday, said that any attack against Biafra should be considered an attack against the Yoruba, vowing to mobilise his followers in defense of the Eastern region.
“We would like to inform the Federal Government of Nigeria that any attack on the South-East is an attack on the Yoruba.“”Biafra people have been targeted by the Nigeria Army and any further attacks on them, we would have no other options than to support our brothers and sisters in Biafraland,” Ighoho vowed.
Army debunks shoot-on-sight order
However, the Army Deputy Director of Information, 14 Brigade Ohafia, Captain Iliya Dauda, has challenged the groups to produce evidence of the said shoot-on-sight order.
He advised people against public utterances based on rumours as such is capable of sparking unnecessary crisis in the country.
