By; Victor Duruamaku, Owerri.
An elder statesman and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Imo State, Chief Emmanuel C. Iwuanyanwu has condemned in strong terms, the recent killing and destruction of houses of the Igbos in the South East Geo-political Zone, by herdsmen, describing it as a threat to the peace and unity of Nigeria as a country.
Addressing a press conference in his glass House Office in Owerri, Friday, Chief Iwuanyanwu said that this trend is completely new and strange phenomenon.
According to him, for many years, the Fulani herdsmen have co-existed with the rest of Nigerians and have done their business and reared their cattle without any harassment.
Chief Iwuanaywu, believed that going by the rate this trend is going, it is very important for the law enforcement agents to find out if these herdsmen are actually Nigerians.
He noted that by the culture of the Igbos, the greatest injury one can inflict on any Igboman, is to attack and kill him in his home.
According to him, it is even worst when property is destroyed, his wife rapped and his relatives killed for no just cause.
He therefore called on the Federal Government to do something most urgently to address this situation.
Chief Iwuanyanwu, recalled that since the history of this country, the Igbo’s have never initiated any bloody attack against any part of Nigeria but lamented that the Igbo have been attacked in many places on very flimsy reasons.
He expressed worry that this matter has deteriorated to a situation where the Igbos are being attacked, slaughtered, disposed off, their woman raped in their home land by group alleged to be Fulani herdsmen.
Chief Iwuanyanwu said that the recent attack in Ukpabi Nimbo in Enugu State is very painful to Nigerians and to the Igbos in particular and suggested that the matter should no longer be treated with levity but regarded as a matter that can seriously affect the peace, unity and economic progress of the country.
He however noted that President Mohammadu Buhari has directed the Inspector General of Police and other Law Enforcement Agencies to crack down on these herdsmen, pointing out that this matter has assumed a dangerous dimension.
Chief Iwuanyanwu urged the federal government to treat the victims of this attack the way the victims of BOKO-Haram attacks were treated.
