Igbo congress warns against another civil war

By INNOCENT ANORUO, Lagos and NNAMDI AKPA, Abakaliki

• Calls Buhari’s ‘dot in a circle’ analogy annihilation plot
• Ohanaeze charges Northern leaders to flay assault on S’East

The World Igbo Congress (WIC) has warned against another civil war in Nigeria, especially one contrived with the Igbo as antagonists.

It, therefore, called for cessation of the shoot-on-sight order in the South East by the Federal Government and immediate withdrawal of troops from the region.

In an open letter to South East governors, made available to The Guardian yesterday, the Igbo congress said that the 1966 version would be child’s play, should another armed conflict arise.

It stated: “Any governor, who has invited the military to Igbo land, should request that they be withdrawn.” It reminded the governors that they were as guilty as the Federal Government for the blood of defenceless and innocent Igbo youth being spilled in Igbo land and elsewhere.

The group also called Buhari to rescind the shoot-on-sight order and return the soldiers to the barracks.

WIC slammed Buhari for describing Igbo land, in an interview with Arise Television, as a mere “dot in a circle” with nowhere to go. It alleged that the President’s analogy was part of the scheme to annihilate the Igbo race, starting with the shoot-on-sight order.

It added: “We have continued to witness, with dismay, the carefully planned ethnic cleansing taking place in the southeastern states of Nigeria. First, it was the AK47-totting Fulani herdsmen who made life unbearable for people in the south-eastern

states, like in some other places. The security apparatus of Nigeria looked the other way, as these murderers unleashed mayhem on us by maiming, raping and killing our people while destroying our crops and occupying our farms.”

IN the same vein, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday, charged Northern leaders to speak up on President Muhammadu Buhari’s verbal assault against the Igbo via his ‘dot in a circle’ comment.

The Secretary-General of the Ohanaeze faction, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, stated yesterday, in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, that the silence of Northern leaders was evidence that they were happy with Buhari’s divisive tendencies and declarations on the South East.

Isiguzoro noted that such utterance was used to pulverise the Igbo during the civil war that claimed three million lives, especially women and children, noting that in 160 days, about 513 Igbo had been killed, 2,436 arrested and 854 missing in the ongoing ‘imported’ security challenges in the South East.

According to Isiguzoro, ‘dot in the circle’ is a new sign that Ndigbo are surrounded or should be taught in the language they understand. (The Guardian)