President of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo
The apex socio-political physique of the Igbos, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has requested the Federal Government to research a latest assault on the Igbo in Taraba State.
There had been stories that retailers belonging to Igbo merchants within the Dan-Anicha space of Taraba State had been destroyed and looted, throughout an assault on Igbo by suspected Fulani folks on June three, 2018.
The Igbo Union in Taraba State has already petitioned the Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishiaku, and the nationwide management of Ohanaeze, over the event.
In a assertion on Sunday, Ohanaeze requested the Federal Government to research the assaults, and convey the perpetrators to ebook.
In the assertion signed by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Emeka Atama, the group additionally demanded compensation for the merchants whose retailers had been destroyed and looted in the course of the incident.
Condemning the assault, Ohanaeze famous that the Igbo residents of Taraba had been attacked in the midst of a conflict between the Fulani and the Tiv.
The assertion partly learn, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo has referred to as for a cease to the recurring observe of Ndigbo being made to bear the brunt of any battle between different ethnic teams within the northern elements of the nation.
“there was nothing Ndigbo in Taraba state had mentioned or finished to warrant the mayhem unleashed on them by their northern brothers on that day — a recurrence of comparable assaults on Ndigbo dwelling within the north prior to now.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo noticed that it was when the Fulani went to assault a Tiv settlement however came upon that their firepower couldn't match that of the Tiv, that they (Fulani) determined to assault the Igbo, who most likely had complied with the Inspector-General of Police’s order to give up their weapons.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo is calling on the Federal Government to carry out a thorough investigation into the matter and bring the perpetrators to book and make restitution to those who lost their property in that dastardly act.”
Ohanaeze, within the assertion, additional expressed concern that stories of the incident revealed that, for greater than 12 uninterrupted hours, “operatives from different security outfits were standing by and watching as Igbo traders and their families were running helter-skelter for their dear lives, while their attackers were carting away their wares and property and burning the rest.”
“Ohanaeze wonders if it was under this kind of intimidation, harassment and daylight robbery that the Inspector-General of Police was asking people to surrender their guns and become sitting targets for their tormentors,” the group famous.
Ohanaeze added, “A situation where law enforcement agents stand aside and watch as people from another ethnic group are being harassed or killed means only one thing, defend yourselves. Such a situation made nonsense of the order by the IGP and could engender a civil war.”