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–Pix above:A Jihadist herdsmen ocupation of Igboland
A new International Joint Research investigation(https://intersociety-ng.org/who-is-killing-who-outside-the-law-in-igbo-land/)carried out by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law in collaboration with the Ekwenche Research Institute, Chicago-Illinois, USA and the Global Igbo Leaders Coalition, United Kingdom have unmasked “who is killing who outside the law in Igbo Land”, particularly since Jan 2021. The affected seven Igbo-controlled States include the South-East States of Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia and the two South-South Igbo-controlled States of Delta and Rivers. The joint research investigation by Intersociety in collaboration with other three international groups was meant to trace the origin of insecurity and other unsafe conditions ravaging Igbo Land particularly since January 2021. The research investigation was also propelled by gross mishandling of security and safety matters in the Region by the elected and appointed public officers particularly the Igbo Land Governors. The Report contains fifteen pages and twenty references of various investigative reports by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law; Nigeria’s leading research and investigative human rights, democracy, rule of law and security and safety advocacy Organization since 2008.
Some of the Intersociety’s recent research reports on which the latest joint Research Report was built included those of May 21, 2023 (Imo Mass Atrocities: 33 Pages), July 16, 2023 (Over 50 Armed Groups Raised In Nigeria To Kill On The Grounds Of Religion, Politics And Ransom Since June 2015: Seven Pages) and July 31, 2023 (N2.8 Trillion Seized From Easterners At Gunpoint By Criminal Security Personnel And Non State Armed Groups In Three Years Of Jan 2021-July 2023: Five Pages); in addition to 20 References of the Research Reports by Intersociety covering Dec 2015 to August 2023. The latest Joint Research Report had observed that the ancestral Igbo populations and their territories and properties have been laid under siege using Government security forces and Government-linked armed killer entities or groups including Government-raised and armed ‘counterfeit Biafra agitators and the Buhari Government-protected Jihadist groups; all remotely traced to the Buhari’s Government dry quest to plunge Igbo Land and her neighbors into radical Islamism and enslavement. It was also observed that the ancestral Igbo populations particularly in Benue, Nasarrawa, Kogi and Edo are grossly endangered; followed by those in Cross River, Rivers and Akwa Ibom. The above is to the extent that those in Benue, Kogi and Nasarrawa States are steadily facing jihadist annihilation. As if the above is not enough those seeking to annihilate the ancestral Igbo natives in Benue, Kogi and Nasarrawa States are making steady and unchecked inroads into the Mother Igbo Land of Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia and Anambra States.
The most shocking of it all is that the country’s security forces, paid to protect the Igbo vulnerable populations and their counterparts across other regions have brutally been compromised and commanded into joining forces with the suspected Buhari Government assembled jihadists to “terrify, terrorize, kill, maim, abduct, disappear, torture, humiliate, loot, plunder, invade, seize, occupy, burn, destroy and Islamize the defenseless citizens, territories and properties across Igbo Land”. The Igbo Land Governors are also collaborators and errand boys. Under these Govs, too, the citizens’ territorial security, safety and welfare are comparable to the “Biafra-Nigeria Civil War Period”. The Joint Report also observes that the Igbo Land Governors breed and escalate insecurity and other unsafe conditions and use them to wastefully spend public funds worth billions of naira every month without anything to show for it. Apart from heightening and over-blowing insecurity and other unsafe conditions, the Igbo Land Governors have monumentally failed to offer good and accountable governances premised on ‘Human Security’ and its economic security, environmental security, food security, health security, community security, personal security and physical security. The Joint Report accuses the Igbo Land Governors of being starkly illiterate in matters of security and safety and that they have clannishly continued to see and treat security as “trigger driven” or “cork-and-shoot”. Apart from tracing the ‘political and religious insecurity in Igbo Land insecurity to their doorsteps, the Igbo Land Govs are also accountable for “street criminality insecurity and other unsafe conditions”.
The Stark Illiteracy Of Igbo Land Govs In Security And Safety Matters
· “The concept of security has for too long been interpreted narrowly: as security of the territory from external aggression, or as protection of national interests in foreign policy or as global security from the threat of a nuclear holocaust. It has been related more to nation-state than people….forgotten were the legitimate concerns of ordinary people….for many of them, security symbolized protection from the threat of disease, hunger, unemployment, crime, social conflict, political repression and environmental hazards” . Source: UNDP Human Development Report; 1994: 22.
“Security is an all-encompassing condition in which individual citizens live in freedom, peace and safety; to participate fully in the process of governance; enjoy the protection of the fundamental human rights; have access to resources and the basic necessities of life; and inhabit an environment which is not detrimental to their health and well-being”. Source: South African Department of Defense 1996.
Twenty-One (21) Key Findings Made By This Joint Research Report
· That the Buhari Government and Igbo Land Governors are remotely behind South-East insecurity using radical Islamism and deadly politics
· That the present the Igbo Land Govs and immediate past others are too illiterate and compromised to handle security and safety matters in the seven Igbo-controlled States
· That the deployed security forces and 20 Government-linked armed groups have been responsible for the killings and burnings outside the law in Igbo Land for purposes of radical Islamism and deadly politics
· That there are estimated 300 ‘street criminal entities’ and tens of thousands of “individual criminal persons” engaging in sundry ‘crimes against persons and properties’ across the seven Igbo Land-controlled States of Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Delta and Rivers
· That the Buhari, Ebonyi and Imo Governments are accountable for Igbo Land insecurity through counterfeit Biafra and Islamization projects
· That the Buhari Government’s “state jihadism project” and military siege in Igbo Land started in 2016
· That estimated 2m of Nigeria’s 7m illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) are proliferating by wrong hands in Igbo Land
· That Igbo Land has become a dumping grounds and rising killing fields for Nigerian security forces with high flooding and uncountable number of licit but misused and genocidal small arms and armaments
· That the rise of ‘Ebubeagu’ was the beginning of counterfeiting of IPOB and other pro Biafra self determination activities in Igbo Land by the Buhari Government using top officials in the Governments of Ebonyi and Imo States as “errand boys” and “executioners”.
· That there are more than 20 Government-linked armed groups including jihadist and counterfeiting Biafra self determination groups; private armies and political death squads operating, killing and burning in Igbo Land
· That there are killings and burnings arising from Election Boycott enforcements in Igbo Land perpetrated by the Government-linked armed groups above mentioned
· That among the Government-linked killer entities in the killings and burnings outside the law in Igbo Land for purposes of radical Islamism and deadly politics are the Ebubeagu Vigilante Groups, the Asari Dokubo’s Niger Delta Islamic Militants, the Simon Ekpa’s Autopilots counterfeit Biafra agitators, the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, the MACABAN Vigilante Groups and other suspected Buhari Government assembled jihadists
· That subversive state security elements drawn from the military, regular and spy police crack squads are part of those in the killings and burnings in Igbo Land
· That the Igbo Land Governors’ Security Commissioners and Security Advisers are distributors of funds and personnel in the killings and burnings perpetrated by Government-linked private armies and political death squads in Igbo Land
· That more than 60 Nigerian Security Forces’ Formations in Igbo Land are involved in the killings and burnings outside the law
· That Igbo Land passengers using commercial vehicles are forced to disembark at Army Roadblocks and trek for kilometers under torture and other degrading treats in the day time and run high risk of being abducted and disappeared without traces if stopped at late night
· That anti Igbo deadly clampdowns by the military and the police crack squads and delayed justice have escalated agitations in Igbo Land
· That no fewer than 200 Igbo Communities are being forced into radical Islamism through sundry Inducements and threats of violence using the drafted Muslim dominated and controlled security forces and their commanders in Igbo Land.
· That this Joint Report has a full page containing selected victims of unlawful killings and burnings outside the law perpetrated by Government-linked armed groups in Igbo Land
· That the seven Igbo-controlled States of Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi, Abia, Rivers and Delta have lost a whopping N2.1trillion to armed state and armed non state criminal entities since Jan 2021
· That no fewer than 6,500 unarmed and defenseless Igbo citizens have been killed outside the law by security forces, Government-linked armed entities and others and over 3000 defenseless civilian houses and tens of personal belongings burned down or destroyed and looted mostly perpetrated by the drafted military personnel and police crack squads in Igbo Land since Jan 2021
For full details of the International Joint Research Report, see the link here: (https://intersociety-ng.org/who-is-killing-who-outside-the-law-in-igbo-land/)
Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
· Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chidinma Udegbunam Esquire and Ositadinma Agu Enugu, Eastern Nigeria, Tuesday, August 29, 2023
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