Shoot On Sight Against Igbo Youths Call For Another Genocide — Ohanaeze

Ohanaeze Ndigbo has frowned at the alleged shoot on sight order given to soldiers on how to engage Igbo youths in South East.

Prof. George Obiozor, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, dis­closed this in a statement made available to journalists by the body’s National Publicity Secre­tary, Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, in Enugu on Monday.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo warned that shoot on sight order to sol­diers on Igbo youths is a call for another pogrom and genocide.

He, thereby, urged the Federal Government to re­frain from the use of force in resolving the present na­tional crisis.

He said, “History shows that military and violent means to solve the national question is bound to fail as it leads to further national fractionalisation, anarchy and eventual or inevitable disintegration, as in all em­pires or multi-national states or countries.”

Obiozor warns, “The Sahara Reporters, May 8, elaborated on the new secret plan of shoot on sight order which by the grace of God has come to the public do­main. The report further re­vealed that the exercise will commence from Orlu in Imo State, South East Nigeria.

“This is very disturbing. The pattern of deployment of northern military officers to the South-East lends cre­dence to the above report.

“Sahara Reporters re­vealed that in preparation for the above, the Nigerian army has posted Northern Muslims as commanders over its operations and bri­gades in Anambra, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Benue, Edo, Delta and Riv­ers.

“In Anambra State, the Cantonment 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,” he said.

The President General ad­monished the Nigerian gov­ernment to “learn a lesson from history by not fighting an unwinnable war against nationalism but seek possi­ble peaceful options that are the only solution that guar­antees national unity and peaceful coexistence.”

Obiozor lamented that “subnational conscious­ness or ethnocentric na­tionalism which is a dan­gerous form of nationalism to national unity has taken over Nigeria.” And that “the dream of Nigeria uni­ty is receding and fading fast with violence, crises and conflicts.”