Apex Igbo Socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has expressed their discomfiture over the wanton killing of Nigerian Citizens in the South-Eastern part of the country by arms bearing Fulani herders.

This was ignited by the latest massacre of twenty-three Nigerians in Ebonyi state Nigeria on 30th March 2021.

The group in a press statement signed by their spokesman, chief Alex Chiedozie Ogbonnia stated that Federal government has on several occasions refused to heed the call to investigate the situation, possibly bringing a stop to the murders.

To ammeliorate the situation, the group reiterated that their previously proposed restructuring of the country will bring an end to the gruesome killings.

The press statement reads in parts:

“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide condemn the senseless gruesome murder of innocent citizens across Igbo Land by the AK-47 wielding Fulani herdesmen.

Within this week alone, over twenty three Igbos have been dastardly killed in their homes for no justifiable reasons. This is not only painful but unacceptable.
It is worrisome that while other countries are waxing on development programmes, Nigerians are busy counting on loss of human lives through AK-47 wielding Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, kidnappings, banditry and other extrajudicial means.

The indulgence of AK-47 for the herders is a recent development which triggers various forms of crime in the country.

It is noteworthy that the legitimate use of force resides in the government but when the government fails in it’s primary responsibility of protection of lives and property, various groups and individuals will be compelled to rise to the challenges. For groups and individuals to take up arms in self defence is a very dangerous tipping point that every responsible government should strive to avoid.

It is most infortunate that the federal government ignores the call by Ohanaeze Ndigbo that Nigeria should be restructured such that, among other benefits, the command structure of the security network in each state should be able to respond to the peculiar security challenges of the people.

Based on the above backdrop,
Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide calls on the South East Governors to : 1) Urgently inaugurate and activate the South East Securiy
measures to enforce the ban on open grazing.
2)To strictly and emphatically implement the national and state laws against illegal occupation of land .

For purpose of clarity,
there is no man’s land in Igboland. Every piece of land belongs to families, communities, towns or even deities. Land is also not common in Igboland, abundant or available as in other parts of the country. For the honest patriotic Nigerians, it seems provocative as well as suspicious that the herdsmen in a section of the country that occupies nearly 80 percent of the country’s land mass wants land to graze cattle from those holding about 20 percent.

We must stop deceiving our selves and speak truth to power for the sake of peaceful
national coexistence, political stability and national progress.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide led by Ambassador Professor George Obiozor sends his condolences to the government and good people of Ebonyi and Enugu states. Obiozor assures the Igbo that this kind of senseless killings can not be allowed to continue.