.
..Demands state of emergency in the region

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

Igbo group, under the umbrella of The Igbo Conscience, TIC, has decried what it termed a “worrisome security situation” in the South-East and called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the region.

The group stated that it became expedient by the FG to arrest what it described as a ” dangerous state of anarchy.”

TIC, led by Mr Joe Igbokwe, Special Adviser on Drainages to the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, made the call, yesterday, as part of its 4-point demand at a press conference in Ikeja, in reaction to the gruesome murder of Dr Chike Akunyili, husband of the late Chairman of the NAFDAC, Prof. Dora Akunyili, expressing shock over the incident.

Igbokwe, led other kinsmen, including Comrade Declan Ihekaire, Peter Clever Okpara, among others at the briefing.

The group noted that the assassination of the medical doctor by unknown gunmen was just a tip of what was happening currently in the five states in the region, saying such had been a recurring picture sInce the outlawed Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) launched armed warfare against the South-East.

“The South-East as of today is under a murderous and destructive siege launched by our people in the name of actualising Biafra, with thousands having been killed, businesses and human activities seriously affected,” Igbokwe stated.

The group, therefore, urged the Federal Government to draft more security forces and agencies to the region to save the people from themselves.

Igbokwe, demanded that the Federal Government should identify, arrest, prosecute any person, group, interest and organisation found to actively procure, support and facilitate the state of anarchy presently riddling the region.

He added that the government should do all within its power to tame the conflagration in the South-East in order to save Igbos from what he described as “a self-inflicted ruination.”

According to Igbokwe, “Given these concerns, therefore, we demand the following; That the Federal Government consider the option of declaring a state of emergency in the South East or at least some states of the South East to arrest this dangerous state of anarchy.

“That the Federal Government draft more security forces and agencies to the South East to save the people from themselves.

“That the Federal Government identify, arrest, prosecute any person, group, interest and organisation found to actively procure, support and facilitate the state of anarchy presently riddling the South East.

“That the Federal Government do all within its power to tame the conflagration in the South East so as to save Igbos from self-inflicted ruination.

“We hope the Federal Government will quickly and deftly attend to these demands before South East goes to extinction.”

While further lamenting the rate at which innocent lives were being harked in Igbo land, Igbokwe recalled that the TIC led by him had severally issued releases and statements dissociating right-thinking Igbos from this suicidal tendency and urged Igbos to speak out and tame the monster, which he likened to how the dreaded Boko Haram started in the North-East.

“But for reasons best known to them, most Igbos have shied away from condemning this self-destructive dastardly act and rather play the ostrich as evil seizes Igboland,” he said.

According to him, many Igbos lent their support, covertly and overtly, to this evil when this inclination to murder started in Igboland, recalling further that these Igbos started a negative campaign against the Federal Government’s effort, terming it as genocide against Igbos.

“TIC notes also that given their complicity and active support in grooming the deadly monster ravaging Igboland today, most of the governors in the South-East have waxed impotent in rising to the challenge of dealing with this deadly monster.

“In their helplessness, Igbos are being killed in their numbers each day and wanton bloodletting and atrocious destruction of businesses and means of livelihood have become the order of the day in Igboland today.

“There seems to be no remedy in sight as the people have surrendered to the bestiality of murderous gunmen that have taken over Igboland today, killing as they desire and unleashing mayhem, fear and destruction all over Igboland,” Igbokwe.

“Curiously, religious leaders who should weigh in are active participants in the atrocity that has overwhelmed Igboland today. Instead of being agents of peace and love, they have turned bitter, acrimonious harbingers of hate, actively spreading fake news, inciting devilry and lending abominable support to the evil that has been unleashed in Igboland today.”

Speaking further, Igbokwe said TIC was of the view that self-styled Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were actively involved in this project to burn down the South-East and lay the entire region to ruinous waste, declaring that the region cannot continue like this and time was for decisive action.

“TIC states that we can’t continue like this. We demand that this is time for quick and decisive action,” he stressed.

Vanguard News Nigeria