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Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide yesterday raised the alarm over the ‘Shoot-at-sight order’ given to the Nigerian soldiers against Igbo youth, warning that such order was a call for another pogrom and genocide.
The socio-cultural group has Consequently asked the federal government to refrain from the use of force in resolving the present national crises.
Quoting the President General of Ohanaeze, Prof. George Obiozor, the organization admonished the Nigerian government to ‘learn a lesson from history by not fighting an unwinnable war against nationalism but seek possible peaceful options that are the only solution that guarantees national unity and peaceful coexistence.’
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In a statement issued yesterday in Enugu by the National Publicity Secretary, Alex Ogbonnia, Ohanaeze noted that the pattern of deployment of northern military officers to the South-East lends credence to the report of the shoot-at-sight order.
The statement reads in parts, ‘The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has been drawn to the ‘Shoot-at-sight order‘ given to the Nigerian soldiers on how to engage the Igbo youths in the oncoming week. The Sahara Reporters, May 8, elaborated on the new secret plan which by the grace of God has come to the public domain. The report further revealed that the exercise will commence from Orlu in Imo State, South-East Nigeria. This is very disturbing.
‘The pattern of deployment of northern military officers to the South-East lends credence to the above report. Sahara Reporters revealed that in preparation for the above, the Nigerian army has posted Northern Muslims as commanders over its operations and brigades in Anambra, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Benue, Edo, Delta, and Rivers.
‘In Anambra State, the Cantonment Commandant of the 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha, is Col Abdulsalam Abubakar Sambo, a Hausa-Fulani Muslim; while in Imo State, the Brigade Commander of 34 Brigade, Obinze, is Brig Gen Ibrahim Tukura, another northerner; in Abia State, the Brigade Commander of 14 Brigade, Ohafia, is Brig Gen M. Ibrahim, still, a northerner; while in Akwa Ibom State, the Brigade Commander of 2 Brigade, Uyo, is Brig Gen Faruk Mijinyawa, another northerner. This is truly worrisome!’
Insisting that the current problems confronting Nigeria, such as ethnic militia, agitation for secession, insurgency, etc were a product of sustained orchestrated injustice in governance, Ohanaeze quoted Obiozor again as having lamented that ‘sub-national consciousness or ethnocentric nationalism which is a dangerous form of nationalism to national unity has taken over Nigeria.’ And that ‘the dream of Nigeria unity is receding and fading fast with violence, crises, and conflicts.’
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