The Insecurity In Igbo Land – An Overview Of The Genesis, The Players, And The Solution

The last few months and years have seen a phenomenal increase in insecurity in Igbo Land. To our greatest shock, the once peaceful cities of ani Igbo are now shadows of themselves, due to the incessant kidnappings, robberies, and attacks on government institutions and private businesses, among other crimes that have filled the news in recent times. 

In this article, we will make honest attempts to shed light on the near-history of insecurity in Igbo land, focusing on its various arms, the causes, and most importantly, the solutions. 

The insecurity in Igbo land today is multidimensional, ranging from the nefarious activities of Fulani terrorists and herders to the proliferation of light and heavy arms used by emboldened criminal gangs in their kidnappings and killing, and also the sponsoring of violence by local and foreign politicians (and state agents) targeted at making the East unsafe, and also pinning the crimes on the Biafran agitation (which IPOB is leading). Below we will examine the various dimensions of insecurity in our land, based on our observations and documented reports.  

The Fulani Herders And Terrorists Attacks And kidnappings

It is a known fact that no region of Nigeria has been without insecurity for the last 8 years and even beyond. The root of this insecurity started with Boko-Haram and then developed into Fulani banditry. And as this wave of violence swept down from the North, it seemed the East was immune, as business and day-to-day lives continued smoothly, asides from the few disruptions by petty criminals and cultists (a fallout of urbanization and a decaying Nigerian society). 

However, Igbo land seemed invisible to the jihadists and their chaos, till around 2014/2015 when the AK-47-wielding Fulani attackers started to make profound moves into the East. In the years that followed, they became more daring in their attacks. Of course, the silence of their brother, President Muhamadu Buhari emboldened them in the months and years that followed. They invaded various communities with their cattle and destroyed the farms and livelihood of Ndi Igbo, raped our women, killed our young and old, and dared the communities to do their worst. The people cried out, but the security agencies turned a blind eye, with no words coming from the president, Muhamadu Buhari, and his northern-filled National Security Council. 

In 2015, Fulani herdsmen with AK-47 riffles, charms, daggers laced with poison, and machetes, invaded Enugwu, Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo States, and killed scores of our people, without any of them being arrested, despite the heavy military presence in the East. The terrorists walked freely with their weapons and attacked at will. And wherever they can chase the indigenes out, they claim the land to belong to them – which is simply what the Fulani has done all over West Africa, and particularly so, in the North Central and Middle Belt of Nigeria. 

The pattern of invasion by the Fulani herdsmen and terrorists, followed by the inaction of the Federal government’s security apparatus, led the people to defend themselves, in places like Ozuakoli, Bende Local Government Area and Ebem and Akanu in Ohafia and Umuchieze in Umunneochi areas among others. 

The same patterns of Fulani attacks and invasions were recorded that same year in various Enugwu communities, namely: Agbakwe, Ette, Akpakume, Ebe, Opanda, Nara, Ibagwa, Ukana, Oruku, and Isi-Ogbo among others. The farmers and people of these communities out of fear abandoned a massive expanse of farmland for the rampaging Fulani who used it for grazing their cattle and settlement. 

One of the stories that were painful to learn was the killing of a young Igbo woman, Veronica Ezugwu, from the Nkpologu community, Uzo – Uwani Local Government Area, Of Enugwu State, in the December of 2014. She was going home for her traditional marriage when she was shot dead by Fulani robbers and kidnappers, who were operating on the road. 

One such unprovoked terrorist attack on Igbo people by the armed Fulani herders/militants, was the April 25, 2016, invasion of Ukpabi-Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugwu State in the early hours of the morning with over 500 Fulani terrorists, killing over 46 Ndi Igbo, and burning the Christ Holy Catholic Church, Odozi-Obodo. They razed 11 houses to the ground, with another 14 victims who were hospitalized on that day. This invasion came less than three weeks after the same Fulani herdsmen attacked another Enugwu community, Ugwuleshi in Awgu. The herders were said to have told the natives that their kinsman, Muhammadu Buhari, was the President and so, they took over land wherever they wanted to graze their cattle at the expense of the host community.

These attacks continued to spread to other parts of Igbo land, with little or no Federal government intervention. This led to an outcry by many groups and organizations in Igbo land. The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, in 2017, said that “The peaceful coexistence between previously peace-loving Fulani herdsmen, who herded their cattle with long canes and our local farmers has been replaced by an era of AK-47 totting and rampaging herdsmen who kill, maim, rape our people and destroy our farms.

“Not one of them is ever arrested for illegal possession of firearms. Even those arrested in Nimbo for mercilessly killing our people remain unprosecuted by the Northern-dominated law enforcement agents.”

In Ebonyi state, an Igbo chieftain, Chief Abia Onyike, said that the “Fulani herdsmen have recently become a militia group charged with the continuation of the Igbo genocide in Nigeria.”

On the 21st of August 2019, Fulani herdsmen raped and killed a 67-year-old Igbo woman, Mrs. Regina Mba, at Nchatacha, Nike, Enugu East Local Government of Enugu state. She went to the farm to cultivate her crops and was attacked by the uncivilized and bloodthirsty Fulani terrorists.

These attacks by Fulani herdsmen and terrorists continued unabated till 2019, 2020, and beyond – till date. There was no condemnation by the Fulani-led federal government. The security agents seemed complacent as Ndi Igbo died in their hundreds, with whole communities deserted. The South-East governors were also handicapped in what they could do in rescuing the people from the obvious invasion, which constituted an existential threat, reminding Ndi Igbo of the Biafran genocide dubbed the Nigerian Civil War.

It was this lack of a clear and tangible solution to the insecurity in Igbo land, that led to the formation of ESN, by the leadership of IPOB, to defend Ndi Igbo from Fulani terrorism and invasion. 

The Creation Of ESN By Nnamdi Kanu, To Defend Ndi Igbo And Our Lands Against Fulani Terrorism, And The Hunt Of ESN By The Nigerian Army

Many Nigerians have erroneously accused IPOB of creating the ESN as a separatist army to fight the Federal Government of Nigeria. But that is not the truth. Going by the facts on the ground, the ESN was formed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, to act as a regional force to protect Ndi Igbo against the Fulani raiders and terrorists, which the Federal and state governments had refused to tackle. The formation of ESN was announced on December 12, 2020.

Two weeks after this announcement, the Nigerian government immediately swung into action to locate and destroy the ESN, which they saw as a threat to the Fulani-led government’s authority and interests. The government also believed that the ESN was set up as an armed group to fight for the restoration of Biafra since IPOB (the mother body) is agitating for Biafra.

The search and attack on ESN formations and bases that followed, simply showed that the Federal Government of Nigeria was not ready to fight the Fulani terrorists in Igbo land, and was willing to stop the ESN from defending Ndi Igbo. The attack on ESN bases, led to the Orlu crisis the following month January 2021.

On January 22, 2021, in search of ESN operatives and their camps, Nigerian soldiers invaded Orlu. In their usual reckless manner of handling Igbo civilians, they killed one person and burnt down eight buildings. They would leave to come back three days later and kill five more people, who were alleged to be ESN members. Reports say that the Nigerian army also suffered casualties. The army left, and in the following days, was replaced by the Nigerian Air Force which used planes and helicopters in its operations. The same planes and helicopters they refused to use in combing the forests in search of the murderous Fulani herdsmen were used in the search for ESN – a para-military outfit created to secure Igbo lives. 

By the 28th of January, the authorities declared a curfew in Orlu as more than 400 Nigerian soldiers were deployed to the city to brutally enforce it. The curfew and harassment by the soldiers scared the civilians and many of them fled the city. Later on, that same day Nnamdi Kanu ordered the ESN to withdraw from Orlu, away from the Nigerian Army, to focus on the Fulani terrorists who were still invading various parts of Igbo land. 

A few days after the Orlu invasion by the Nigerian Army, IPOB gave the governors of the 5 Eastern (South-East) states 14 days to ban open grazing in their respective states. IPOB threatened to deploy the ESN to enforce a ban if the authorities did not do so. A few days later, the ESN had an encounter with a group of Fulani terrorists in one of their camps in Isuikwuato, Abia State. After this encounter, some governors then heeded the call by ESN and banned open-grazing of cattle in their states – this was only lip service by the unserious and lily-livered Igbo Governors and leaders.

The banning of open grazing did not stop the Fulani terrorists from their attacks on Ndi Igbo, and that has continued to date in many parts of Igbo land. And while the people suffer the attacks by Fulani terrorists, the Federal governments and its security agencies take a biased stand on the matter. Instead of sending the military against the Fulani terrorists, the security forces are raiding Igbo towns and villages in search of Ndi Igbo who is in support of IPOB and the Biafra agitation, in an ever-continuous vicious hunt for the ESN – an outfit set up to secure lives of Ndi Igbo, and not fight the Federal government. 

The massacre of over 50 Igbo people in Eha-Amafu, in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugwu State, on the 8th day of December 2022, is a testament to the fact that the Fulani terrorists are still in Igbo land, Killing Ndi Igbo, without any form of intervention from the Federal Government Forces. The Military and police know where these Fulani terrorists are in the bushes but have never dared to arrest them and bring them to justice. But the moment Igbo youths raise arms to defend themselves against the Fulani, the military will arrive and round them up.

This is the origin of the insecurity in Igbo land, according to our findings and observations. 

Hardened Criminals Released From Prison, Leading To Insecurity In Igbo Land

The security situation in Igbo land in 2020/2021, around the point of confrontation between the ESN on one side and the Nigerian Military and Fulani terrorists on the side, was already taking dangerous turns. Attacks on Igbo civilians, businesses, and government properties were now commonplace. Many in Nigeria blamed it all on IPOB, while others with a keen observation called them FALSE-FLAG operations by politicians to pin the chaos on IPOB and Ndi Igbo in general. While the chaos was growing, other factors that were at play within that period were also responsible for the high level of criminality (kidnappings and robberies) that we began to see. And that the criminals released from various prisons in the South, who found Igbo land as a fertile ground for their daredevil attacks and operations. 

In October 2020, during the End Sars protests, which rocked Nigeria for about two weeks, there were two successful prison breaks, and multiple police station attacks (in the East). Armed men who took advantage of the chaos from the protests broke into three prisons (Nigerian Correctional Services Centre) – In Edo and Ondo States, while the third attempt in Lagos was foiled. The two successful jailbreaks saw a total of 2,051 inmates escape from prison. 

On the 5th of April 2021, another prison break took place, but this time, in Owerri, Imo State. A well-equipped and trained armed group arrived in pickup trucks and buses carrying machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and rifles. They gained access to the prison yard by using explosives to create an entrance through the administrative block. In this prison break, the armed group released more than 1,884 inmates from the Owerri Correctional Centre (Prison). 

These three major prison breaks, we believe, were what left the South, especially Igbo land, with a high number of hardened criminals. As a result of the already deteriorated security situation in the Eastern States, these criminals found fertile ground to come in and carry out their nefarious activities. More so, the over 1,800 criminals that were released from the Owerri prison are enough to cause crippling damage to the security of the East, in the absence of serious efforts by the police and army to secure the lives and property of Ndi Igbo. 

The Federal government did not show any real concerns to solve the heightened levels of crime in the East. All the government cared about was fishing out ESN and also tagging any criminality in the East on IPOB. This pattern has continued to date, as hardened criminals who escaped from prison roam the towns and bushes of Igbo land, unchecked by the security forces, and free to return to their evil ways, carrying out kidnappings and murder of innocent citizens at will. 

Destruction Of Police Stations In Igbo Land During The #Endsars Protests And The Consequences

The insecurity in Igbo land we see today was further heightened by the destruction of police stations and the killing of police officers by angry mobs who were protesting police brutality during the nationwide protests. 

All over the Southern and Northern parts of Nigeria, angry citizens stormed various police stations, burnt them to the ground, and also killed police officers in some cases, where the police opened fire on the protesters.

The East was no exception, as young men and women who were protesting the extra-judicial killing of Ndi Igbo by officers of the Nigerian police, stormed many police stations and set them ablaze.

In Anambra, it was reported that the angry mob burnt down 11 police stations, killed 4 policemen, and burnt 20 police vehicles. In most of these cases, the mob carted away some police rifles. In Enugwu, the mob attacked 5 police stations and killed two cops. The mob also burnt down multiple police Hilux and other properties. In Imo State, the mob reportedly burnt and destroyed police stations. In Ebonyi, the mob burnt 10 police stations and other police properties. It was reported that over 3 police stations were destroyed in Abia State. 

The ENDSARS protests and the destruction of police stations further led to the worsening security situation in the East. In these cases, hardened criminals who were kept in various police stations were set free by the angry mob. Some of the policemen who were afraid of attacks from the mobs moved away from the police stations, wore regular clothes, and stopped mounting roadblocks. This automatically means that armed robbers, kidnappers, and criminals had free access to their targets and free passage to their hiding spots. 

The situation led to more robberies, kidnappings, and attacks on public and private properties. The hardened criminals who had been released from prison around those periods around Nigeria also found a soft spot for their operations and moved into the East in their numbers. To date, the bushes of various towns in Igbo land are filled with hardened criminals, whom the government also designates as “Unknown gunmen”, committing all manner of crimes, coupled with the Fulani invasion and hunting of Igbo civilians by the Nigerian Army, in their search for the ESN.  

Unknown Gunmen and The Possible False Flag Operations by The Government or Foreign Bodies

The proliferation of criminals in the South East around 2020/2021 also led to the popular phenomenon which is today called “Unknown Gunmen”. As the days and months went by, they became bolder and started to attack government facilities and security agencies, in an organized and professional manner. And as they did, many supporters of IPOB clapped for them, thinking that they were the calvary who had come to boot out the Nigerian government, for a smooth coming of Biafra. But they were wrong – they were clapping for the same enemies who were on a mission, and criminals using the chaos to dislodge the security apparatus in the region.

As the supposed “Unknown Gunmen” started to be bold in their attacks, every media outlet in the country pointed their fingers at IPOB. Even in cases where IPOB stated that they were not responsible, the government, without investigations, will blame the attacks on IPOB, almost immediately after the attack. We then entered an era of social media verdicts, devoid of any real investigations. Anything the brown envelope media houses or social media influencers reported was to be accepted as the facts.

This pattern of organized and professional attacks continued all over Igboland, and many people started to sense foul play in the manner and professionalism of the attacks and the almost instant verdict of IPOB as the attackers. So, at this point, many intelligent people started to opine that the attacks were “False flag operations” carried out by the government security apparatus.

According to Wikipedia, “A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning the blame on another party. The term is popular amongst conspiracy theory promoters in referring to covert operations of various governments and cabals”

A closer look at some of the operations and attacks of government facilities and personnel in Igbo land points to the possibility of “false flag operations” by the Fulani-led federal government, aimed at bacterizing the Biafran struggle in the minds of the people, and the international community. One case in the study is the Owerri prison attack on the 5th of April 2021. 

The attackers targeted the headquarters of the Nigerian Police Force in Imo State and also the Federal Correctional Centre (Prison), which shared the same vicinity with the Nigerian army, a police barracks, a DSS office, and many other security outfits of the Federal Government. The group entered the prison’s yard by using explosives to damage the administrative block.

The gunmen operated for about 3 hours without any interventions from the Nigerian Army, DSS, Police, etc. The heavily armed security apparatus that surrounded that vicinity sat helplessly for those three hours without putting up a defense or counter. And to add to the suspicion of a “false flag operation”, there was little to no casualty in the three hours of this operation. How possible is it for gunmen to attack an area as armed as this, and there was no significant casualty?

Your guess is as good as mine…!!!

Immediately after the attack, in their usual manner, the Governor, Hope Uzodimma, and the Inspector General of Police accused IPOB of perpetrating the attack. Without investigation, they told the whole world that it was IPOB, as though they were acting out an already-written script. Their accusation of IPOB as the culprits simply meant that IPOB was now an international armed force that could overpower the Nigerian Police, Army, and heavy security of the nearby Office of the Governor and went away after three hours.   

IPOB however denied any participation in the attack. The Governor, Hope Uzodimma, soon backtracked and withdrew his statement which accused IPOB of the attack. He then shifted the blame to the political enemies of his government. The Nigerian Army however, the following day maintained that the “Unknown Gunmen” were members of IPOB and that the army had killed 11 of them, showing bodies of the supposed culprits. The spokesperson of the Prison also released a statement on the attack, but did not blame it on IPOB, but rather on the supposed “Unknown Gunmen”. 

From the above scenario, it was obvious that the attack might have been staged by elements of the government to give a dog a bad name. These kinds of operations would continue all over Igbo land, but especially in the Anambra, Imo, and Abia axis, making many observant minds say that the government is not being honest in blaming IPOB for the attacks, stating that a bigger plot is being hatched in the background. 

To date, we have seen the Nigerian Army bring forward dubious and suspicious stories of supposed ESN/IPOB members confessing to bogus crimes. A keen observation always shows that these confessions were most likely staged. 

One thing to take away from all of this is that some groups of people are staging and profiting from the insecurity in the East – Igbo land. Even though we cannot place our hands on it, at this point, there seems to be a group who obviously can coordinate attacks, carry them out, and escape while the security apparatus of the Federal government turns a blind eye (immobilized), only to come back a few minutes after the attack to say that they are “Unknown Gunmen” who are members of IPOB.  

To make matters worse, the Buhari-led administration, ever since its inception has paid little to no seriousness to the insecurity in the country, especially to the insecurity in Igbo land, a people whom he derogatorily referred to as a “Dot in a circle”, and also called “Five percent” while denying them any spot at the Federal Government Security Council in Abuja.

If there was an Igbo man in the Nigerian National Security Council and an honest one at that, we can say with certainty that the “Unknown Gunmen” situation is strictly an operation carried out by disgruntled criminals, who are hiding under the social attack of IPOB by the government, to dismantle the security structure of Igbo land, so to gain access to more targets for kidnapping and arson. But since there is no Igbo man in the security council, we will side with those who believe that the Federal Government knows something or two about the operations of the supposed unknown gunmen, given that they have the answers and know the perpetrators almost immediately after each attack. 

In a line of the foregoing, we must know that the Biafran war which is said to have ended in 1970, has lived on and that what we see today in Igbo land is evidence that the Nigerian government has continued to persecute a war against Ndi Igbo, by various means, both covert and known strategies. The refusal of the Army to engage Fulani herdsmen during their attacks on Ndi Igbo, only to surface when the Indigenes retaliate, is enough evidence for anyone of us to believe that the war has not ended, but has now taken various new dimensions, of which the “false flag operations” is a great possibility. 

Extreme Poverty and Worsening Economy Leading to Insecurity in Igbo Land

The insecurity in Igbo land is also partially a fall out of the extreme poverty that is linked to the crippling economy of the Buhari administration, which has brought on Nigerians untold hardship, a type that has never been seen since 1999 – a type only witnessed the last time Bihari was a Military Head Of State between 1983-1985.

It is a known social fact that a bad economy leads to poverty and that biting poverty often leads to crime and other vices. More so, in societies that are faced with such poverty as the one Nigerians have faced in the last 8 years, towns and states which have more businesses, are often the targets of criminals – being that there would be more flow of cash, and a high density of people who have money, especially to pay for kidnap ransoms, as we have seen in Igbo land. 

This is what Igbo land is facing today. The lack of jobs and unavailability of economic opportunities has heightened the crime rate in the region. And these criminals operate more in Anambra because the state has two of the biggest markets in Nigeria, the Onicha main market, and the Nnewi spare parts market, respectively. When other big markets in Anambra are added, it means that the State is a cash cow for these criminals and kidnappers. 

The obvious truth is that Igbo land is blessed with wealthy and rich people, from all works of life. Both in the middle and upper class, Ndi Igbo have multi-millionaires, living in Igbo land and outside of Igbo land. This is what attracts the criminals to Igbo land, but more especially to the regions that have an aggregation of businessmen and women.

In various statements by the Anambra and Imo State Governments, they have blamed the kidnappings on criminal gangs who have used the face-off between the Nigerian Army and Fulani herdsmen (on one side), and ESN on the other side, as cover to carry out their criminal activities. These criminals too have been designated as “unknown gunmen”, a false tag placed on the Biafran agitation, making society blame every criminal act on Biafran agitators. 

However, the governors themselves, Hope Uzodimma, Willie Obiano, and Charles Soludo, who were/are the chief security officers of Imo and Anambra States, clearly stated that the kidnappings and arson in their states were the works of hardened criminal gangs, and have nothing to do with Biafran agitators. This came at a time when every crime that took place in the region was immediately tagged on Biafran agitators/IPOB on social media.

To date (of writing this piece), the economy of Nigeria has not gotten better, meaning that crime rates will remain the same, with little or no visible security in the region, to secure lives and property. 

In addition to the criminals created by a crippled economy, we have cultism which is rampant among the youth. Some of the killings we see on social media are a result of cult-related clashes, rivalry, and “wars” as they call them. 

There has always been incidents crime in Igbo land, even before the coming of this administration. But what past governments in the East had done, was to provide adequate security to flush the criminals out, while the government in Abuja ran a progressive nation where the economy was growing, thereby reducing the propensity of criminality to survive among the youths. 

Political Rivalry, Killings, and Assassinations As The Cause Of Insecurity In Igbo Land

Igbo land, just like other regions of Nigeria has been known for political rivalry and violence. The competition between politicians often goes from the mere exchange of words to assassinations and escaped assassinations. These deadly attacks by political rivals on themselves often heighten around major elections.  

Anyone who knows the history of politics in Igbo land, especially in Anambra and Imo States will testify that politicians who are often power-hungry, can get very fierce in their ambitions. Politicians are known to provide light and heavy ammunition to their thugs during campaign and election periods.  

One such example of political rivalry that leads to the death of politicians is the beheading of an Anambra State lawmaker, Okechukwu Okoye, in May of 2022. He was kidnaped and later beheaded, and his head dumped in Amichi, in Nnewi South. As usual, social media was agog with blame on IPOB, but the governor himself pointed to criminal gangs as the perpetrators of the act. But investigations reveal that the killing might have been politically motivated, given that Soludo had just been sworn in as the Governor, and there were still tensions in the political atmosphere. 

Another case of politically motivated insecurity in Igbo land was the assassination attempt on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, a lawmaker representing Anambra South senatorial zone in the country’s upper legislative chambers, and his aides, as they were returning to Ifeanyi Ubah’s hometown, after attending a function, on the 11th of September 2022. Different stories and speculations around the cause of the attempted assassinations were given by various sources, but the summary of it all points to a politically motivated assassination attempt. 

One recent politically motivated security disaster in Igbo land was the well-coordinated attack on the Akokwa residence of Ikenga Ugochinyere, the PDP candidate for the Ideato Federal Constituency, of Imo State, on the 14th of January 2023. Ikenga Ugochinyere is also the spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP). The assassins came to kill him but did not succeed. They succeeded however in burning his house and numerous vehicles and killing his uncle including other people in the compound. He accused the Imo State Government of the attack on his life. Ikenga’s convoy was also reportedly attacked on December 23, 2022, by men whom he identified to be agents working for the Imo State Government.

Another such brazen attacks on a politician were the attempted assassination of the former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, on the 2nd of January, 2023, in Oriagu, a community in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state. The assailants succeeded in killing four policemen who were attached to him. While social media had started to point fingers at Biafran agitators, Ohakim himself, in a press statement said that the attack on his convoy was not the work of IPOB but a politically motivated assassination attempt. 

These and many more incidents of political clashes and assassinations have been recorded in the East in recent times. And each time these assassinations, beheadings, or failed assassinations happen, social media goes into flames the very minute pointing fingers at IPOB, without due investigations as to the motive behind such attacks, and the laid-out patterns of politically motivated violence in the region. 

Automatically, people become brain-dead and lose every form of mental ability, or memory, and then zero in on the already established “storyline” of attaching any crime in Igbo land to Biafran agitators, when in fact, it is politicians who are going about their dirty businesses.

The 2023 general elections will eventually come with more of these political assassinations and violence. And these too are part of what causes insecurity in Igbo land. 

Solutions To The Insecurity In Igbo Land And Conclusion

The insecurity in Igbo land is multi-faceted and has grown beyond anyone’s expectations from as far as 2014 to date. The solution to the problem is for Ndi Igbo to be sincere to themselves and call a spade a spade. Our politicians are neck-deep in romancing the people that control Aso-Rock, especially the Fulani who run Nigeria. 

It is our political leaders and traditional rulers who have failed to stand up for Ndi Igbo. It is they who have refused to speak fearlessly to power and demand that the Nigerian government fights the Fulani terrorists invading Igbo land or allow the 5 Igbo states to create an indigenous security outfit, without affiliations to any political party or Abuja, but total dedication to the preservation of Igbo lives and property. In the event that the Federal government refuses to act on this request, then Igbo political leaders would let the people know that their fate is in their hands, and must rise to the occasion – let Ndi Igbo raise and bear arms to defend their communities. 

The Fulani terrorist problem, which has bedeviled Igbo land for almost a decade now will lead us to another civil war if not checked.

The leaders of Igbo extraction made a huge mistake in not backing IPOB when they created the ESN for the security of Igbo lives. Instead, they joined the Fulani-led Federal government to designate ESN as the enemy and watched as the Fulani continued to kill Ndi Igbo and take over their lands. Without a regional security force, the Fulani will not stop till they take over all our lands. 

The insecurity in Igbo land, be it Fulani herdsmen, Unknown gunmen, criminal gangs, kidnappers, and foreign actors claiming to be Biafran agitators, can be put in check if we have a regional force, made up of only Ndi Igbo, to secure the territorial integrity of our land, borders, and also secure our lives and property. 

This can only happen if our lawmakers unanimously move motions for it in the National Assembly. And if they are turned down, the next line of action should be to demand a referendum to move the Igbo region apart from Nigeria, since it is obvious that our survival as a people is not important to the Government and its lawmakers.

A regional force, that will take oaths before the strongest Alusi in Igbo land, to betray Ndi Igbo and die, will be the ultimate solution to the insecurity problem in Igbo land. The ESN was set up for such purpose. The leaders of Igbo land should build on that blueprint and create a formidable force for our defense against internal and external aggression. 

This Article Was Written By Chuka Nduneseokwu, Editor-In-Chief, Voice Of The Sun

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