Igbo leaders ask all Igbos in the north to return home

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Headlines, South-East Sunday, January 29th, 2012

Call it fear of Boko Haram or the unknown. But the Igbo Elders Forum met yesterday at the residence of the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and asked its kinsmen resident in the northern part of Nigeria to return home.

The call was occasioned by the activities of the Islamist fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram, which has unleashed terror on some states in the North killing over 500 in the last few months.
The latest onslaught of the dreaded sect was on Kano State last weekend in which multiple bombings claimed no fewer than 200 lives. Since the deadly attacks, non-indigenes have been fleeing in droves from the state.

Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Movement for Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, and former President of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Justice Eze Ozobu, said the decision was in the best interest of the Igbo.

The meeting, which preceded an all-Igbo political leaders meeting convened by the South-East Governors Forum, however, said that the men can remain in the North to protect their investment. “We are calling for the immediate return of Igbo wives and children so that their safety can be assured. The Igbo nation is once again facing an impending refugee crisis and our people are being forced to flee their base and places of work, field and business in order to avoid being killed.

“The current situation in the North and the rampant killing of our Igbo brothers and sisters bring to mind the sequence of events and pogroms that led to the civil war. We are thus calling for emergency desk in the affected areas to get data regarding the number of persons that have lost their lives.“We are taking the decision bearing in mind that our people in the North are being slaughtered like cows without any clear directive as to what they should do.

“We cannot fold our arms and watch our people killed and buried in mass graves in the North. The men can stay back and protect their investments. “We have set up centres where people who have nowhere to go to can stay and we request churches and other non-governmental organizations to assist in providing settlement centres.

“We have set up a team to meet with the President as soon as possible to assess the security situation as it affects Igbos. We are using this opportunity to alert the international community of this refugee crisis and the fact that our people are returning home in droves without any government assistance,” the elders said.

-Sunwp_posts