…Warns against herdsmen attack in S’ East 

Aloysius Attah, Onitsha

Founder and Leader of Biafra Independence Movement and Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (BIM-MASSOB), Chief  Ralph Uwazuruike, has warned that no group of persons in Nigeria have the monopoly of violence against any section or tribe, adding that despite the non-violence approach of his organisation, MASSOB–BIM could defend Igbo if attacked by aggressors.

The pro-Biafran leader said intelligence reports coming to him indicated that certain Fulani herdsmen were awaiting to attack the South East states beginning with Nteje community in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State any moment once they were directed to do so by their sponsors.

His Personal Assistant on media and publicity, Chris Mocha, quoted Uwazuruike as saying he was of the belief that any such attack would always fail because according to him, God who fought just wars would fight for his people.

Mocha disclosed that while addressing the Online Committee and Regional Directors of Information members at Ojukwu Memorial Library  in New Owerri, the Imo State capital recently, Uwazuruike said that not all the stories or news in social media networking were fake.

He said there were still positive ones indeed, noting that as a person, he had become victim of social media attacks by internet fraudsters who used the platforms to promote violence, hate speech and blackmail.

He urged traditional rulers in the zone to be cautious  of employing  people not well known by them as personal security guards.

He also frowned that the partial restriction on motorcycle operations in Awka, Onitsha and adjoining towns, had not helped so much in the planned attack by suspected herdsmen. This, he said, had prompted the three major villages of Ifite Nteje, Ezi Nteje and Ikenga Nteje to engage in a 7-day fasting and prayer to avert the planned attack on Nteje community, even when there was no provocation.

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Daily Sun gathered that the one week of prayer and fasting which had started since Monday and Tuesday at St. Anthony Catholic Church, Ifite, Nteje, was still ongoing at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Ezi Nteje and should end at Amadiaba, Ikenga Nteje, on Saturday.

But when contacted, the Anambra State Police Public Relations officer, Muhammed Haruna, said there was no cause for alarm in every part of the state.

He warned proscribed organisations like MASSOB from raising unnecessary fear among the people.