The Coalition of Igbo Groups says despite the perennial killing of Ndigbo in the North, the murderers have continued to evade justice.
The group lamented that terrorists under the tag ‘Fulani herdsmen’ have now extended such murderous tendencies to Igbo Land, with the active backing of their leaders.
In a statement made available to Standard Observers on Wednesday, the group decried the continued massacre of Igbos in their villages by terrorists sponsored by Northern leaders.
It also called on all Igbos living in the North to leave and go back to the East to avoid another pogrom as the body language of Northern leaders showed that they will wipe Igbos out if given another opportunity.
On the killing of youths in Igbo Land, it called on the Federal Government to remove all military personnel from the streets within 24 hours.
The group which also made a case for the separation of Igbo Land from Nigeria, added that secession will “solve the recurring problem with the tribalistic, retrogressive, and terrorist-infested Northern Nigeria”.
Read statement in full
It is with a deep sense of concern for the peace of our land, the safety of our people across the country, especially in the north, and the general situation of Nigeria that we wish to address this matter We are appalled by the recently released testament of lies and the compendium of deceit, pettiness, propaganda, and devious falsehood peddled against Igbo people, as truths of history and reflection of the present happenings in the country by a group of ethnic jingoists and hypocrites known as the Coalition of Northern Groups
1. HISTORICAL REALITIES
The Igbo people have strived to be an example of what it means to be Nigerian anywhere they have found themselves in all nooks and crannies of not only Nigeria, but everywhere in the world, and as a matter of principles and culture, they always contribute immensely in the building of those communities wherever they are domiciled. The Igbo people are globally known as being very hospitable and accommodating of other peoples and the north have since even before Nigeria’s independence, found a peaceful home in Igboland where they are accepted as friends, brothers, and sisters, and fellow citizens. Many of them were born and grew up here with us, raising their own families.
This inborn Igbo hospitality is demonstrated by the sheer number of northerners that are doing their businesses in Igboland and living among the locals where an uncountable number of them live rent-free as some Igbo landlords give them accommodations without collecting any payement for as long as they sojourn among us.
This reality was also demonstrated by the Igbo people when they elected a Fulani cattle dealer, Umoru Altine as the first Mayor of Enugu against a son of the soil, Mr. Ezechi from the same Enugu. Umoru Altine was elected two times by the Igbo people to lead them in the mostly Igbo-dominated capital of Eastern Nigeria. Mallam Umoru Yishau, another northerner was also elected by Igbo people to the Eastern House of Chiefs.
2. COMMITMENT TO NIGERIA
The Igbo people have also been at the forefront of promoting, projecting, and accentuating the image of Nigeria at home and globally, excelling in every area of human endeavour and making Nigeria proud. The first military coup in Nigeria had the participation of officers
from different parts of the country and even though they made mistakes, the coup was greeted with jubilation all over the country, including in the North until it was termed an “Igbo coup”, an unfortunate lie that has persisted to this day. Due to this propaganda, there have been series of mindless killings of Igbo people in the North, while members of the security forces of Nigeria, either colluded or simply looked away, while the people whose lives and properties they had pledged to protect where they had
attacked, maimed or killed
We still remember clearly how an innocent Igbo man, Gideon Akaluka was dragged out of detention, decapitated and his head hung on a
spike and paraded across the town in the North with the approval of the Nigerian security forces. No trials or arrests were made. Since
then, the North has killed an uncountable number of Igbo people, with none of the criminals ever apprehended or justice served. Our
National Youth Corp members sent to the north who are contributing to the progress and unity of the country are killed because the north
lost an election.
3. NORTHERN JIHADIST TERRORISTS
We are all aware of the formation of terrorist groups by Northerners whose main aim has always been to divide the country by creating a
separate Islamic region where they can practice Sharia law. This was initiated by Northern governors who do not believe in democracy,
unity of Nigeria, or the secular nature of the Nigerian State. The implementation of Sharia law in the North has led to mindless
uprisings in which the Igbo people were always the target – they were killed in their numbers and their properties vandalized.
Igbo people are constantly targeted and attacked in the North for the most flimsy of reasons like the drawing of a cartoon in faraway
Denmark or the loss of an election by northern politicians.
In all these unprovoked massacres, we simply counted our losses, buried our loved ones and continued to pursue peace with our killers
and unity of Nigeria and stay with those who see us as their enemies.
4. TERRIBLE RECENT EVENTS
Since 2015, these killing of Igbo people have increased in intensity with a different dimension, where the Fulani terrorists known as
herdsmen, who are the militant jihadist wing of the north sent to kill Igbo people and take away their land, now are bolder
Their hatred for the Igbo people leads them to always look for excuses to kill Ndigbo and occupy Igboland This has been noted in the way the security forces which are mainly composed of the Northerners, treat ordinary Igbo people in Igboland with beastly cruelty. It was also the reason why the north was vocal in pushing the false narrative that Igbo people were behind the destructions during the #EndSARS protests, even when it is obvious that Igbo people lost more, and would lose more in such a situation, reasons for which they can never support or participate in such destruction of public property. The terrorists Fulani herdsmen have rendered our parents childless; our children orphans; and raped our mothers and daughters .
The north also, with their accomplices, wickedly murdered their son, a friend of the Imo people and a patriotic Nigerian – Ahmed Gulak, just to instigate chaos in Igboland and have a strong reason to carry out their threatened genocide in Igboland with their security forces, and occupy the place.
The massacre of Igbo people and sacking of villages across Igboland has continued till this day by the northern sponsored terrorists, with the active support of the federal security forces This sponsored anarchy and killing culture created the perfect atmosphere for the north to kill their son in Imo state and immediately accuse Ndigbo before asking for investigations. It should be noted that Fulani terrorists invaded the Niger state residence and assassinated NECO chairman, Prof. Obioma an Igbo man from Abia state and the Nigerian government refused to take actions to apprehend the murderers. Also, there have been constant burning of markets and Igbo people places of business in Abuja, Niger, Kano and Kaduna by Fulani terrorists. The Fulani led Nigerian government has turned a blind eye to all these carnages and have also militarised the South East with Federal Security forces — who kidnap and extrajudicially murder thousands of young Igbo civilians.
We are tired of living in Nigeria with parasites like Northern Nigeria, who do not have any natural resources, thus does not contribute
anything to this contraption, instead with their positions in government, they have become overly corrupt and nepotistic in governance, by appointing only northerners in position of authority with total disregard to the “federal character” enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution. They have also used their position in government to frustrate the development of the southeast — we must resist this!
The ethnic disturbances in the north have always been the desire of the trouble-making group and they have been doing this even before
Nigeria’s independence. Unfortunately, in all of these the north has always targeted the Igbo people living peacefully among them for
elimination for no reason. Despite the provocations and the killings, Igbo people have always gone back to the north, reintegrated back
into the society and rebuilt everything again, contributing to the northern communities and the general northern economy in the spirit of love, unity, and one Nigeria.
5. DRUG, GUNS, AND CRIME
It is common knowledge that northern bandits and criminal cartels smuggle drugs and illegal arms through the deliberately designed porous northern borders with other African countries. And even though the entire security architecture of Nigeria has been nepotistically skewed in favour of the north, including the Nigeria Customs and immigration services, they only order strict border closures in the South while assisting the northern criminal syndicates with links to terrorists in other African counties to smuggle arms and illicit drugs into Nigeria through the porous Northern borders for use by terrorists to destabilize Nigeria. Some of these arms and drugs eventually find their way down to the south, which they use to destroy our youths and weaken our region. In all these, no terrorist has been arrested.
6. NORTHERN HATE
This dangerous hatred and genocidal tendencies among younger northern people is deeply steeped in the chain of generational lies and
hateful false narratives being handed down by their parents, politicians, Imams, and religious leaders who use the mosques as a breeding space for such hateful indoctrination. The Igbo people are known globally as peaceful, patient, reliable, resourceful, and friendly. We have never evicted or given any orders for any peoples to leave our region even during the war times. The northerners that left our region were given a cover and well protected, while our people who were fleeing the genocide in the north were cut down, including children and the unborn who were still in the womb. The same evil continues today by the Fulani jihadists via their proxies in
the name of herdsmen terrorists.
7. BIAFRA GENOCIDE MEMORIAL (SIT AT HOME)
Over 3.5 million Igbo people were killed during the war by the federal forces bombing markets, hospitals and other civilian spaces. And, by deliberate starvation of millions of Igbo children. We decided to honour the memory of our fallen kinsmen and women, by observing one day of rest. This simple act of honouring the memory of our slain kinsmen and kinswomen, made Northerners, via the national TV, to place the Federal Government on notice, that they have given the Igbo people a 90-day ultimatum to vacate the North or to be killed and our properties taken over.
This is not the first time that the North has issued such directive to Igbo people living in the North, and as with the other directives that also resulted in the loss of lives and properties of the Igbo people, till date, not one of those who issued the directive has been arrested or questioned for threatening a section of the country, or for inciting the killing of, or pushing the Igbo people out of Nigeria and dividing a sovereign country
8. OUR DEMAND:
I.We are urging you to use your respected position in Ala-Igbo and Nigeria to call on every Igbo residing in Northern Nigeria to come back home, to avoid another pogrom against Igbo people by these Northerners who have eternal hatred against Igbo people and are ready to do anything to wipe us out of existence. The North’s hatred for the Igbo people is because of our republican nature, our zeal for life, our enterprising and industriousness which has made us economically progressive, even after the Northern led Nigerian Government committed genocide against the Igbo people during the Biafra war. They cannot fathom how we bounced back economically after the £20 our parents and grandparents got from Nigeria, post-Biafra war.
II. Secondly, the Federal Government should immediately remove the military from Alaigbo within the next 24 hours.
III. Thirdly, we want to secede from Nigeria. Secession will solve this recurring problem with the tribalistic, retrogressive, and terrorist-infested Northern Nigeria. Secession will enable us to build the Igbo nation of our dreams, one without marginalization, where everyone thrives in a progressive socio-economic sphere.
IV. Finally, this is to a sound note of warning to all political leaders in the South East, to stand up in support and defence of Igbo people and our homeland from all these unprovoked attacks and murderous raiding of our communities, raping of our mothers and sisters and killing of our people by the Fulani jihadists and murder of innocent Igbo youths by their security forces. Should they fail to honour their duty of serving and defending Igbo people and our homeland, and remain silent in the face of the on-going marginalization and killing of the Igbo people nationwide, posterity will judge them and we will hold accountable for their failure and inactions
