•Save Anambra communities -Lawmaker
From Chuks Onuoha, Umuahia and Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka and Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) worldwide, yesterday banned Fulani herdsmen in Igboland, and called on Federal Government to declare them a terrorist group.
The group, however, called on Igbo youths not to take laws into their hands, but to be vigilant and report to security agents, activities of suspected herdsmen to appropriate channels.
It said the leadership of the council met and discussed extensively on the recent killings by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria and resolved that self-defence is a measure to halt it.
“We condemn, vehemently, the terrorist attack by the Fulani herdsmen and call for self defence as a measure to halt it. We hail Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and the heroic stand of Governor Willie Obiano for rejecting the cattle colonies in Abia and Anambra states. We know other Igbo governors will follow the footsteps of their colleagues and reject these anti-people’s policy. We are calling on the Federal Government to establish piggy colonies in Northern Nigeria to help feed our people over there,” OYC said.
In a statement signed by the President General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the Secretary General, Okwu Nnabuike and National Publicity Secretary, Obinna Adibe, the Council condemned activities of herdsmen and warned them to vacate South East, immediately, or face the wrath of Igbo youths, adding, “any attempt to ignore this warning, they will have themselves to blame.”
The group also restated that activities of Fulani herdsmen have been proscribed and banned in the South East with immediate effect.
In a related development, member representing Onitsha South 1 Constituency in Anambra State House of Assembly, Chigbo Enwezor, has made a save-our-soul call to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police to rescue the state from rampaging Fulani herdsmen.
The lawmaker also called on Director General, Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to intervene.
Making the call at the floor of the House yesterday, Enwezor, who is the chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, decried what he called incessant killings, rape, destruction of farmland and intimidation of farmers by alleged Fulani herdsmen in communities in Anambra West and Ayamelum local government area of the state.
He noted that people of the two local governments had kept their records, and have regularly and dutifully, in the past, reported several harassments of their women in their farms, destruction of farmlands and general intimidation by invading Fulani herdsmen to the Federal Government, the Police and other security agencies.
Enwezor, who is a legal practitioner, noted that the people of the area, whose lands are fertile, are peaceful and must not be forced to take to violence to defend themselves.
He said: “This matter must be in the front burner and we call on the federal government to come to our aid. These invasions by the herdsmen and their criminal activities in our land cannot push us out of our God’s given and sacred land.”
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the House deliberated on serial killings in Benue, Taraba and Nassarawa states by Fulani herdsmen, the lawmaker, said President Buhari should, as a matter of urgency, deploy well trained, equipped and security personnel in the affected areas to forestall any re-occurrence, just as he should cause the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of the heinous crime.
Furthermore, he called on the Federal Government to declare Fulani herdsmen perpetrating violence against farmers across the country as terrorists and treat them as such.
He urged the global community to assist in guaranteeing the lives of Nigerians in the hands of the breeders, noting that their right to live was guaranteed under the Nigerian law and Universal Charter of Human Rights.
Meanwhile, Abuja division of the Federal High Court, presided by Acting Chief Judge, Justice Abdul Abdu-Kafarati, will today deliver judgment on the suit seeking to void the proscription and declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organisation.
The organisation had, through its lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, approached the court to challenge the ruling it delivered on September 20, 2017, which outlawed it following an ex-parte motion the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, filed on behalf of the government.
Justice Kafarati had, in the said ruling, declared as illegal, all activities of IPOB, particularly in the South East and South South regions of the country.
The proscription order, which was dished out in chambers, further restrained “any person or group of persons from participating in any of the group’s activities.”
The court consequently directed the AGF to ensure that he published the order proscribing IPOB in the official gazette, as well as in two national dailies, an order FG had since complied with.
However, the IPOB, in a motion it filed pursuant to Section 6(6) (1) of the 1999 constitution, as amended, maintained that the proscription order “was made without jurisdiction”, adding that it was “granted against an entity unknown to law.” IPOB queried the legal validity of the order it said was surreptitiously obtained by the AGF.
In another development, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Abia State, Ambassador Chibuike Ukauwa, accused by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of having perfected plans to destabilise Governor Ikpeazu’s government, has said no amount of propaganda will stop him from condemning the draconian policies of PDP-led government in the state.
“My concern is to see to the betterment and development of Abia State and ensure dividends of democracy are brought to the doorsteps of Abians,” he said.
Ukauwa said as a law abiding citizen of the state, he has no intention whatsoever to destabilise the state with political thugs ahead of 2019 election.
“I don’t have any intention or plan to destabilise Abia State. All these are mere propaganda designed to pull me down. I don’t move with thugs, as you can see, the police you see with me are officers assigned to me by the Abia State police command and they are the only people moving around with me due to security changes in the state,” Ukuwa said.
He described the allegation as the handiwork of political detractors who have commissioned themselves to pull him down.
IPOB WARNS/sd
Forstall
Guard against recurrence of Benue incident, IPOB warns Ikpeazu
.OYC bans Fulani herdsmen in Igboland
From OKEY SAMPSON, Aba, Chuks Onuoha, Umuahia and Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu to ensure there is no recurrence of Benue State incident in the state.
Seventy-three people were massacred by Fulani herdsmen in Benue last week.
This is even as the pro Biafra group called on the governor to take decisive action against rampaging Fulani herdsmen before they wreak havoc in the state.
There were reports of palpable fear and tension at Isiadu Ibeku community in Umuahia North Local Government Area, following threats by armed Fulani herdsmen to invade the community over alleged refusal of people of the area to allow them graze their cattle on their farmland.
This was coming at a time Governor Ikpeazu said last week that his administration would not cede any portion of land in the state to the herdsmen for cattle colony as Abia was short of land and had not enough for its teeming farmers.
Speaking in a telephone conversation, the younger brother of the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, Prince Emmanuel Kanu said it was not enough for Ikpeazu to say his administration would not cede any portion of land of the state to the herders, but should move a step further to curtail their activities in the state.
Kanu said any attempt to attack any community in Abia State by the herdsmen, would be resisted, stressing that it was to checkmate the activities of the herdsmen that made IPOB form the vigilance group which the South East governors and their northern collaborators saw with a different lens and had to proscribe IPOB.
“Now that these governors, in order to please their Northern lords, have, through the ‘Operation Python Dance’ killed Nnamdi Kanu and proscribed IPOB, they should, in the same manner, rise to the occasion of the security challenge posed by Fulani herdsmen.”
Kanu berated South East governors for not seeing the reality on ground when they proscribed IPOB, which is a non-violent organisation, adding that they should as well advise the Federal Government to proscribe the Miyetti Allah, which he said has caused mayhem across the country.
In a related development, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) worldwide, yesterday banned Fulani herdsmen in Igboland, and called on Federal Government to declare them a terrorist group.
They however, called on Igbo youths not to take laws into their hands, but to be vigilant and report to security agents, activities of suspected herdsmen to appropriate channels.
The group said the leadership of the council met and discussed extensively on the recent killings by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria and resolved that self-defence is a measure to halt it.
Other resolutions taken by the council include that their activities and the Benue massacre are unfortunate and can cause another avoidable tension in the country especially now the elections of 2019 is around the corner.
“We condemn vehemently the terrorist attack of the Fulani herdsmen and call for self defence as a measure to halt it. We hail Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and the heroic stand of Governor Willie Obiano for rejecting the cattle colonies in Abia and Anambra states.We know other Igbo governors will follow the footsteps of their colleagues and reject these anti-people’s policy. We are calling on the Federal Government to establish piggy colonies in Northern Nigeria to help feed our people over there,” OYC said.
In a statement signed by the President General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the Secretary General, Okwu Nnabuike and National Publicity Secretary, Obinna Adibe, the Council condemned activities of herdsmen and warned the herdsmen to vacate South East immediately or face the wrath of Igbo youths, adding, any attempt to ignore this warning, they will have themselves to blame.
They also restated that all the activities of Fulani herdsmen have been proscribed and banned in the South East with immediate effect.
Also, Member representing Onitsha South 1 Constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Chigbo Enwezor, has made a save-our-soul call on President Muhammadu Buhari, and the Inspector General of Police to rescue the state from rampaging Fulani herdsmen.
The lawmaker also called on Director General, Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to intervene.
Making the call at the floor of the House yesterday, Enwezor, who is the chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, decried what he called incessant killings, rape, destruction of farmland and intimidation of farmers by alleged Fulani herdsmen in communities in Anambra West and Ayamelum local government area of the state.
He noted that people of the two local governments had kept their records, and have regularly and dutifully in the past reported several harassments of their women in their farms, destruction of farmlands and general intimidation by invading Fulani herdsmen to the Federal Government, the Police and other security agencies.
Enwezor, who is a legal practitioner, noted that the people of the area whose lands
are fertile are peaceful and must not be forced to take to violence to defend themselves, adding: “This matter must be in the front burner and we call on the federal government to come to our aid. These invasions by the herdsmen and their criminal activities in our land cannot push us out of our God’s given and sacred land.”
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the House deliberated, on serial killings in Benue, Taraba and Nassarawa states by Fulani herdsmen, the lawmaker, said President Buhari should, as a matter of urgency deploy well trained, equipped and sufficient security personnel in the affected areas to forestall any re-occurrence, just as he should cause the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of the heinous crime.
Furthermore, he called on the Federal Government to declare Fulani herdsmen perpetrating violence against farmers across the country as terrorists and treat them as such.
He urged the global community to assist in guaranteeing the lives of Nigerians in the hands of the Breeders, noting that their right to live was guaranteed under the Nigerian law and Universal
Charter of Human Rights.
Meanwhile, An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Abia State, accused by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of having perfected plans to destabilise Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s government has said no amount of propaganda will stop him from condemning the draconian policies of PDP-led government in the state.
Ambassador Chibuike Ukauwa described the allegation as party propaganda carried against him due to his intention to serve the people of the state in 2019.
“My concern is to see to the betterment and development of Abia State and to ensure that democracy’s dividends is brought to the doorsteps of Abians.”
He said as a law abiding citizen of the state, he has no intention whatsoever to destabilise the state with political thugs ahead of 2019 election.
“I don’t have any intention or plan to destabilise Abia State. All these are mere propaganda designed to pull me down. I don’t move with thugs, as you can see, the police you see with me are officers assigned to me by the Abia State police command and they are the only people moving around with me due to security changes in the state,” Ukuwa said.
He described the allegation as the handiwork of political detractors who have commissioned themselves to pull him down.