Enugu killings: Ohanaeze, HURIWA flay security agencies

• Say they are sabotaging Ugwuanyi’s efforts
• Solutions in sight as gov parleys stakeholders

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC), yesterday, called for an end to killing of indigenes of Eha-Amufu, in Enugu State, by suspected Fulani herdsmen, noting that security agencies are sabotaging Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s efforts.

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation said Eha-Amufu community has become a theatre of war. With many lives and properties lost on Tuesday, Ugwuanyi summoned another emergency meeting of stakeholders from Eha-Amufu, where far-reaching decisions were taken.

In a statement by the National President of OYC, Okwu Nnabuike, the group commended Ugwuanyi for his efforts in search of solutions to the carnage in Eha-Amufu.

The Ohanaeze youths, however, alleged that security agencies are not doing enough to deal with the situation in the area despite support from the state government.

Nnabuike, who noted he had been following the ugly incidents in the area, said that despite the complex nature of the problem, “the governor has done so much to restore peace and order in Eha-Amufu.”

Nnabuike, however, urged Federal Government to call the rampaging Fulani herdsmen to order.

ALSO, the civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, expressed displeasure with security agencies for failing to protect indigenous communities in Enugu against herdsmen invasion.

The group said the failure was despite consistent logistics and financial support provided to them by the Ugwuanyi administration in the last seven and half years.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, said the unrelenting attacks by marauding herdsmen on Enugu, the political capital of Igboland, is an attack on the entire South East geopolitical zone, and should be treated as such by over 60 million Igbo natives in Nigeria and worldwide.

The group reiterated the need for deployment of indigenous Igbo natives as heads of security agencies in the South East states of Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Imo and Ebonyi.

MEANWHILE, hopes for the resolution of the crisis leading to recent killings in Eha- Amufu community is in the offing as Ugwuanyi, yesterday, had a parley with stakeholders of the area.

It was gathered that no fewer than 40 persons have been killed in the last two weeks in the communities, following attacks by suspected Fulani herders and their collaborators from Benue State.

While many had deserted their homes and businesses, fear and hunger has continued to ravage the few, especially the elderly, who could not escape.

Ugwuanyi, who had earlier visited the area and improved on security, had summoned its leaders to reassure them of his government’s determination to protect them, as well as ensure peace is restored in the area. The governor also promised them that he must ensure those who fled to other areas for safety return and protected.