WIC condemns shoot-on-sight order in South-East
• Laments deployment of only Fulani soldiers to the region
• Wants IPOB/ESN second in command arrested in Aba
The World Igbo Congress (WIC) has viewed, with a sense of foreboding, the reported “shoot-on-sight” order given to Nigerian Army units operating in the southeastern states ostensibly to check the activities of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The group, in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Basil Onwukwe, yesterday, said: “The said order further exacerbates the perplexing inability of the Nigerian forces to issue and/or execute similar orders against the deadly Boko Haram and marauding Fulani bandits, euphemistically called Fulani herdsmen, who have ramped up their terror activities against Nigeria since 2015.
“The order further compounds our consternation over the posting of soldiers of Igbo descent to the hotbeds of terror in Boko Haram over-run territories while posting only Fulani soldiers to the South-East.
“By all estimations, IPOB is simply an unarmed organisation pursuing the inalienable rights of all peoples to self-determination espoused in the 2007 United Nations Declaration 61/295.
“In the same vein, the ESN is pursuing the protection of people, who have been denied protection by security forces of their own country.
“By the said order, we believe the Fulani have now put in full motion its age-long Jihadist ambitions of the tribe and Islamisation of the South, especially the South-East and the oil fields of the South-South zone. Of greater concern is the unfolding mindless destruction of life and property by the supposed security forces of Nigeria in the South-East. A shoot-on-sight order given to Fulani killer squads against a defenceless people is an unfolding government-sponsored genocide of proportions never before experienced by a man on earth.
The WIC further said: “Our attention has also been drawn to the purported plan by IPOB to attack Lagos. The Nigerian public and the world need to know that there is no scintilla of truth in that concocted ruse. We believe that it is a case of giving a dog a bad name to hang it. This may be another plan of Fulani to attack Lagos like they are attacking the east and want the Yoruba to rise in arms against the Igbo as part of their assault regimen. Ndi Igbo in Lagos and elsewhere must be vigilant against this scheme.
“World Igbo Congress vehemently condemns the shoot-on-sight order which amounts to a declaration of an unprovoked war on a defenceless people and calls on the Chief of Army Staff of the Nigerian Army, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, to immediately reverse the obnoxious order, as well as the ill-motivated posting of only Boko Haram and Fulani soldiers to the South-East.
“World Igbo Congress calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate leadership and show that he is not part of a grand scheme to annihilate the Igbo.
“World Igbo Congress calls on the leaders of the world to step in to stop what is shaping up.
“World Igbo Congress notes that this situation has similarities in the entire southern administrative zones and, therefore calls on the leaders of South-East, South-South, and South-West to arise and shake off their downy sleep with bold, concrete and palpable actions to avert the impending doom that is looking to overtake their people under their watch. This is the time for concerted action against common aggression.
“The agitation for true and fair governance is not a crime. We call on all Igbo in their homeland to take measures necessary to protect themselves and equally calls on all Igbo in the Diaspora to ignite their survival instincts to avert the impending pogrom and genocide and consequently ensure that any Islamisation agenda against Christianity in Igboland does not succeed.”
MEANWHILE, the Nigerian Army, yesterday, said security operatives had arrested one of the wanted leaders of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), Awurum Eze, believed to have masterminded the recent killings in Imo State.
According to a statement by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima, was the second in command to the late ESN Commander, Ikonso, who was killed by troops a fortnight ago.
The statement said that Eze, who is one of the members having direct link with the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested in Aba, Abia State.
