The Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and the Ijaw Youth Council, have accused Fulani cattle breeders of arousing feeling of war in the people of the South-East.
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Ohanaeze spokesman, Prince Uche Achi-Okpaga, said, “The problem is that each time they (MACBAN) sound primitive. This is 21st century where the world is going global and digital; people are trying to improve on every single facet of the society and they are going backwards.
“The people that Fulani herdsmen killed on the road and in the bushes, in their homes every day and night, they are not talking about that. They are only talking about something happening to their kith and kin in the South. If you feel that there is danger, why don’t you return to your own home?
“This is not even the idea of the people (of the South-East) attacking them; it is them (Fulani herdsmen) attacking people in their home. Let them return to their places.
Achi-Okpaga said that with the rising insecurity, the people of the South-East would have to defend themselves.
He added, “They are just arousing the feeling of war, restlessness and unrest in the people because it is getting out of hand. And when you push somebody to the wall, what do you expect them to do?
“Even the Bible says, ‘When the foundation is shaky, what will the righteous do? You do the best you can. Since the security forces are no longer there to protect you, you do the best you can to protect yourself and that means self-help.”
He stated that Ohanaeze Ndigbo did not issue an ultimatum to Fulani herdsmen to return to the North, adding, “There is unrest; there is distrust. There is a high rate of corruption; there is ethnic chauvinism. The only thing remaining is disintegration.”
The President, IYC, Mr Eric Omare, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, blamed the impunity displayed by the umbrella body of the herders’ group on the tacit behaviour of the President Muhammadu Buhari in addressing the killings by armed Fulani herdsmen.
He said, “Generally, the Fulani herders or Miyetti Allah groups are exhibiting impunity because the government of the day has failed to live up to the citizens’ expectation. In the first place, that comment calls for an investigation and a government that is alive to its responsibilities ought to caution those people.
“This is because what they have said or the position they are taking is a threat to national security. Unfortunately, they have the tacit support of the President that is why they behave with impunity.”
He said if the killings continued, “I urge youths from different parts of the country, especially in the southern part, to start the process of defending their communities because the government has failed to defend them. We have passed the level where we would be calling on the government to do the needful.”
The Nigeria Police Force spokesperson, Frank Mba, had yet to comment on the development as of the time of filing this report on Friday.
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