Group Raises Concern Over Neglect Of Igbo IDPs
Igbos
LEADERS of Igbo Speaking Community in Lagos have raised an alarm over the neglect of Ndigbo displaced in the northeast as a result of Boko Haram activities, appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and restore their hopes.
According to the coalition, millions of Igbo resident in the northeast states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Bauchi, who relocated to the southeast at the escalation of the activities of Boko Haram extremists, are currently dying of starvation.
Addressing a press conference in Enugu, President General of the group, Chief Ebere Ubani, who described their situation as “unimaginable and deliberate marginalisation,” said the displaced persons have not found anything to lay hands on since their forced relocation, adding that their neglect has continued even when other internally displaced persons from other zones of the country were being cared for.
“Today, they roam hopelessly in all the nooks and crannies of the southeast where the political nomenclature, for whatever reason, has failed to take cognisance of them. The primary duty of any responsible government is to guarantee and secure life and property and declare where necessary, a state of emergency, in order to restore hope and succour to distressed citizens and Igbo refugees.
“These people that have lived all their lives in the northern part of Nigeria are, today, refugees in the southeast without any means of livelihood, and forgotten by the authorities, while good efforts and palliatives are expended on their counterparts in the northeast by the government and the international community.”
Ubani, who disclosed that the association had already collected the names, phone numbers and addresses of the affected persons, called for the opening of camps across the southeast for them, adding that it was disheartening that several of them have not been able to either send their children back to school, found a comfortable place to live or something to do to enable them feed their families.
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6 Comments
Deja vue, the last time Igbo refugees were neglected in the 1960s, they went to war, hope they don’t start another suicidal move as Nigerians seem to detest them more now than they did then. Why do Igbos have trouble everywhere they find themselves in Nigeria, from Kano, Kaduna to Maiduguiri, Ondo, Benin and Lagos? Why cant the Igbo spend the money they boast to have to develop their own towns and cities in order to avoid perpetual migration, investment elsewhere, trouble, expulsion and refugee status all of the time?
The fact is that the hatred that your ilks have for the progressive Igbo race has blinded people like you to a simple logic.
First , in a country that befits such an appellation, every citizen is free to live in any part of the country where or she likes not practically where he /she was born. This obtains in all serious and developed countries all over the world including the US, UK, Canada, Australia , all European countries that you people are fund of immitating.
Secondly, if Nigeria is going to be the only exception, then let it be made official so that any entity that wants can leave and lets see after a few years who should laughing.
The idea that you force a people to remain in an entity only for them to be used and exploited can never last forever.
What most of you don’t know is that Nigeria as a acountry became independent by the time it did through the sweat
and blood of mainly Igbo and Yoruba freedom fighters.The Hausas that have hijacked the leadership in Nigeria since independence never wanted independence by 1960. Then take a moment and ask yourself the question; has Nigeria progressed or retrogressed since 1970 the Hausa / Yoruba hegemony relegated the Igbos to the backseat of governance in Nigeria.
Sorry Mr Manque, I didn’t mean to offend you or the Igbo, just telling you the facts as I see them. I may be wrong, but if you Igbos are freed at last to enjoy your own sovereign country, don’t you think you will be the worse for it since Gowon outsmarted Ojukwu by sequestering the oil rich parts from the Igbo hinterland and very effectively cutting you guys off from direct access to the sea. It means that for you to import your merchandise from China you will have to heavily pay and kow-tow to the Ijaws, borokiris and Yorubas . And, if you complaining about a few refugees from the NE at this time, what will you do with millions of your migrants forced back to your small 5 states enclave? You see how it’s not in your interest to think dissolution of Nigeria. You should so advise your Massob brethren. In fact, the only group that can convincingly benefit from disintegration of Nigeria are the yorubas with a natural sea access, Lagos which you (igbos) built for the most part; all the commonwealth of the country which AWO smartly delivered to them in 1972/73, and the balance they have stolen since the power hungry but clueless Hausa Fulani feudalists went into alliance with them to subdue you Igbos in the 1960s. Now Mr Manque, for a change stop being an emotional, Igbo victim and put on your thinking cap — have I said anything you do not already know to be very true?
Access to the sea has never developed any country in the world. It is good and responsible leadership that can do that, which your Hausa /fulani lords can never give you . Some of the most advanced countries in the world (e.g Switzerland ) are land-locked . Don’t bother yourself about our relations with the Ijaws ,when the chips are down, they will know that they have more in common with us than the Hausa/ fulani oligarchs. King Jaja of Opobo,does the name mean anything to you??????????
Are you serious Mr. Nnanque? Wow,wow,wow, you forget your history too soon. The last time the chips did come down, who did the Ijaws take sides with, and what do you think has changed since then? Pray tell, how many of those your abandoned property did the Ijaws return to you, or have they apologized for that malice? As an Igbo have you tried living in Bayelsa state, am sure that if you have, you’ll certainly prefer to relocate to Maiduguiri, Boko Haram and all.. As for Switzerland my dear friend, you don’t know jack. What do you think kept Hitler from invading Switzerland in 1940? Because most people you call swiss are de facto Germans, their only language and culture is german, Zurich, Berne and Basle are German cities don’t you know? On the other side are French and their only language and culture is french, Geneva, Cervanne and Morgue are french cities, so is the Italian butte. So Switzerland has direct access to the Austrian, German, French and Italian Seas without howl or hindrance, even if there was no EU accord that guarantees free access. Is that the same for Nigeria’s Igbos and Hausa/Fulani. If you know any other developed landlocked country you’d like to cite, bring it on so I can help you. It was these same types of jaundiced, emotional, uninformed thinking that led you guys into a war you were very ill prepared for, see where it left you today, in the tiny confine your conquerors dubbed East Central State.
Search your soul.
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