Igbo leaders urge kinsmen to vacate northern Nigeria

Prominent Igbo political leaders rose from a crucial meeting on Saturday expressing concern over the continued killing of their kinsmen in the north by the Boko Haram sect.

The meeting comprising the governors of the five south east states, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Puis Anyim, former governors and National Assembly members condemned in strong terms the killings while commending currents efforts by the Federal Government to tackle the issue.

Dignitaries who attended the meeting included second republic vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka  Ihedioha; Senator Chris Ngige, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Chief Ralph Uwaechue, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chief Emeka Wogu, Prof Barth Nnaji, Dr Tim Menakaya and Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe

They however agreed to set up a committee to evaluate the development and draw up a plan of action to be adopted by the leaders.

A communiqué of a prolonged meeting on Saturday read, “We are angry and condemn the spate of killings going on in the country, especially as it affects Ndigbo. We however commend the efforts of the Federal  Government in containing the situation. We have set up a committee to monitor the developments as it unfolds.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere another gathering of Igbo leaders at the Enugu GRA residence of the Late Chief Emeka Ojukwu directed Igbos in northern Nigeria to return home immediately

The gathering which was convened under the aegis of Igbo Elders Forum, urged their kinsmen who are engaged in one form of business they cannot afford to abandon now to ensure their wife and children return to the south east immediately, but that they can remain at their base and observe events.

They predicated their decision on the mass killings of Ndigbo and bombings by the Boko Haram sect in northern parts of the country.According to and Leader, Movement for the Actualization of the Soveriegn
State of Biafra, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, the south east is being endangered following the attacks of the Boko Haram sect members against southerners.

His words: “We are calling for immediate return of Igbo wives and children so that their safety can be assured here in the East. The Igbo nation is once again facing an intending refugee crisis and our people are being forced to flee their homes and places of work.”

Uwazurike and former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Justice Eze Ozobu, said they had set up settlement centres in the South-East geopolitical zone for their kinsmen who are displaced by the killings in the north.

“While we urge churches to accommodate Igbo refugees, we will no longer fold our arms and watch Igbo people buried in mass graves,” they said.

January 30, 2012