The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council on Saturday called on the governors in the South-East to ensure the reformation of the Bakassi Boys to safeguard the region.
The group lamented that herdsmen were terrorising the region like they were doing in other parts of the country.
The President-General of the group, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said this in a statement in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
Recall that a press statement was alleged to have surfaced online, claiming that the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria planned to attack the South-East governors and their people.
But the Chairman of MACBAN in the zone, Gidado Siddiki, said the purported statement emanated from mischiefmakers and not his members, adding that the group maintained a cordial relationship with the South-East governors and their people.
The OYC called on the leadership of the incoming Houses of Assembly in Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states, including Anambra, to immediately enact laws for the establishment of special vigilance groups to protect boundaries in Igboland.
The statement read in part, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide which has silently studied the recent threat of genocidal ethnic cleansing by Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria against the people of the South East for ‘their alleged stubbornness’ and subsequently the denial of Gidado Siddiki for his apologies and explanations to our people.
“The apologies are dead on arrival as it’s a diversionary tactic to take the people of South-East unawares to douse the already soaked tension emanating from the leaked alleged statement.
“We will not take laws into our hands to fight back, but rather as a matter of urgency, we call for the quick return of dreaded Bakassi Boys with special mandate to engage the armed herdsmen or the establishment of fierce and vibrant vigilant groups.
“We call on the incoming leadership of Houses of Assembly in Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States, and in Anambra to proceed without delay to enact laws to establish local vigilante groups with special mandate to protect our boundaries and fish out armed herdsmen.”
Meanwhile, the Indigenous People of Biafra has alleged that there was a grand plan by Fulani herdsmen to overrun many parts of the country.
The group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, stated this in a statement on Saturday.
The statement read in part, “Middle Belt nationalities, Yoruba groups and northern Christians are advised not to relent in the collective effort to stop this latest attempt to attack many.’’
_______
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2019 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant source.
