Ohanaeze flays military killing of 3 Igbo traders in Lagos

By MAGNUS EZE, Enugu

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has condemned the killing of three Igbo traders by the Nigerian Military on Tuesday, at the Aguiyi Ironsi International Trade Centre, in the Paramo area of Ladipo Market, Lagos State.

The apex Igbo body said the killing was premeditated and vowed that everything humanly possible shall be done to ensure that the perpetrators paid for their offence.

Ohanaeze spokesman, Alex Ogbonnia, in a statement, yesterday, said after reviewing various accounts, the most auspicious, was “that a military man came with his orderly in the morning to change a spare part that he bought from a trader in the market since last week. He came to change it because it did not work, but the military man did not wear his uniform when he came into the market. When he was leaving, the union boys at the entrance of the gate told him to pay N200 for gate pass. But because he refused to pay, it turned into a fight and the boys beat the military man and his orderly. So, he went back to his base, returned with three other boys and everywhere scattered as they started shooting.”

Noting that the Igbo had paid the supreme price with fortitude and equanimity, Ohanaeze said that most of the time, the culprits or perpetrators were not identified.

“It is very strange that the cruel bloodthirsty group among the soldiers have left the members of the Boko Haram, bandits, abductors and kidnappers to brutalize the very civilians they are paid to defend and protect.

“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo calls on the Okaiwu Lagos, Igbo Lagos, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos and indeed all the Igbo associations and activists in Nigeria and in the Diaspora to leave no stone unturned in pursuing this matter to its logical conclusion; bearing in mind that the killing of three Igbo traders is a dot in an Igbo circle,” Ogbonnia stated. (Text excluding headline from Saturday Sun)