Insecurity: FG is naive, lame – Igbo group

By PAUL OSUYI, Asaba

A diaspora Igbo group, the Igbo Union, has described as naive and lame the approach of the federal government towards tackling insecurity in the land.

Igbo Union which is an umbrella body for Igbo communities and cultural association in the US, condemned what it said was the tacit disposition of the FG towards issues security issues of banditry and terrorism.

In a joint statement by the coordinator of the group, Ike Orji, and Secretary, Matthew Ohanele, the group further said South East governors were inactive towards protection of lives and property in the region.

The group endorsed the Eastern Security Network (ESN), urging governors in the region not to contemplate the use of military force against their people but to evolve ways to partner ESN to eradicate killings from the zone.

The statement alleged that the South East Governors’ Forum refused to respond to letters by the group which advocated for a security network to curb the killing and destruction of property in the region by suspected arms bearing herdsmen, noting however that “curiously, a few weeks ago, came up with a phony trojan horse code named “Ebube Agu”.

‘While the Federal Government of Nigeria paid ransoms busy negotiating with terrorist, Igbo men and women who lost their lives, crops, property, raped and sexually assaulted were left to cater for themselves.

‘The world is also watching Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State. We can only hope that he learns from his miscalculations so as to avoid a repeat of the same mistake, and unmask the perpetrators of the heinous crime in his state since he told the whole world that he had information on their identities.’

The group advised FG not to make one tribe or ethnic group superior to the other wondering that ‘if Miyetti Allah’s leader could be seen riding in a convoy in Abuja and the establishment of Amotekum security outfit, what reason can anyone proffer or contemplate against Ndigbo creating and establishing ESN to curtail the ongoing atrocities in the land?’

It challenged the federal government to use the same military force and might on unarmed civilians and ESN to stamp out the menace of Boko Haram and terrorism in the country, adding that until that is seen to be done, all other actions and inactions could be said to mean lip services to the people. (Daily Sun)