The Enugu meeting of Igbo leaders: Matters arising

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By Steve Oko

South East Leaders end their two-day strategic meeting in Enugu, call for disarming of killer herdsmen – News!

This is one of my shocks over the attitude of our political elite who in their quest for political correctness don’t mind trading off their own mothers (I don’t intend to sound immodest).

So, you people knew and have admitted that killer herdsmen have taken over our forests? Doing what? Killing, raping and kidnapping our people for ransom!

Going to farm has since become a nightmare in many communities across South East, yet we have Governors in charge.

These killer herders maliciously damage crops and farmlands with their cows, and in some instances, uproot crops and feed their cows with them while the farmer goes hungry.

If he/she dares to confront them the farmer may not live to tell the story.

Now that our political elite are aware that we are surrounded by armed killer herdsmen who in fact, have already taken over our forests, who are they begging to disarm them?

Hope it isn’t the same government which has not considered the activities of these vampires criminal enough to tag them terrorists despite being globally rated the fourth most dangerous terrorist organization in the world?

Now that we admit that we have such dangerous creatures hiding and having fun in our forests, yet non of our Governors is courageous enough to sign Executive Order proscribing them.

Why hasn’t any S’East Governor invited the military to smoke out the vipers?

But just that Nigeria youths took to the streets to protest Police brutality and bad governance, a spontaneous event that occurred in almost all the states of the federation, no fewer than three Governors in South East have hastily invited the Big Uncles to come and deal with the ‘trouble makers’.

Now who are these trouble makers? Obviously Igbo youths whose future has been so shattered that some of them are frustrated beyond hope. But that is not by any means an excuse for criminality assuming some are engaging into that.

Ebonyi, Imo, and lately Anambra have enough of the Big Uncles on their streets now, and we all know the far reaching implications of hosting such guests.

When the Python danced few years back we all saw how bad and undesirable her dancing steps were. No spectator admired her and I’m sure nobody is willing to play the music again.

But our Governors seem to have obsession for such music, hence the jostling for the Pythons.

I’m sure we all know that South East was not the only zone where the peaceful #EndSARS protests went off handle after it was infiltrated and violently interupted by some street urchins obviously recruited by the oppressors and enemies of the country.

In fact, the #EndSARS protests recorded more violence in many states outside South East such as Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti and even Abuja. Yet no governor in the affected states contemplated inviting the Big Uncles.

Apart from South East Governors and the Great Lion near the Ocean, which other Governor in the country has invited the Big Uncles to come and deal with their ‘troublesome’ youths?

Which Northern governor has tagged violent herdsmen terrorists? Even bandits are yet to be outlawed despite their atrocities .

Apart from Borno State, It’s yet to be reported of any Northern governor calling for deployment of troops in his state. This is by no means an advocacy for criminal elements! No criminal should be allowed to live among us.

But if we must speak the bitter truth to ourselves, one cannot but conclude that Igbo Political Leaders seem to prefer pleasing the stranger at the detriment of their own just to preserve their political interest.

They have watched almost helplessly as killer herdsmen rampage our communities for some years now.

Yet when their youths reacted angrily (although nobody should break the laws in an attempt to seek redress), our Governors went for the sledge hammer. Haba!! Mr Governor, they are still your children. The womb should not eat up the embryo!

As a journalist, I was trained to know when to dry the ink while operating in a hostile environment as we currently have in our hands nationwide, otherwise there are some probing questions that should be raised here but I don’t want to be accused of over-heating the already tensed situation.

I think it’s time to de-escalate for the love of our fatherland. And patriotism instinct in me tells me so.

This epistle, however, does not intend to dismiss the entire exercise in Enugu as a jamboree. Some of their resolutions are still very okay only if the government at the centre will harken.

But what is stopping South East Governors and leaders from forming our own regional security outfit like the Amotekun floated by their South West counterparts? It’s almost one year now since the debate started, yet the Igbo nation ‘wants to carry last’. Tufiakwa!

It’s more worrisome when a particular people suspected to be the reason for the clamour for regional security outfit have told everyone their own vigilante had already been formed nation wide. All we did was to shout and dish out press statements and empty threats which of course never changed anything.

How did we forget in a haste the alleged movement of youths from a particular section of the country during the covid-19 lockdown, and the debate over what their mission might be? Assuming but God forbid that the fear about the real motive behind such suspicious movements turns out to be real, who will defend us?

Where will our deliverance come from? Have we forgotten so soon the Nimbo case? When despite early warning signals and appeals by the locals to our security agencies for protection, they never responded until the invaders were done with their evil misson and scores of innocent folks were butchered like fowls and not even cows because in the case of cows they are taken to the slaughter house (abattoir).

What did Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuannyi do if not to weep, but unlike the biblical Jesus who followed up his weeping for the dead Lazarus with action, our massacred Nimbo kinsmen never resurrected till today, and other boiling national issues at the moment have since eclipsed that episode.

May God give the present crop of Igbo leaders the wisdom and discernment with which He distinguished some of our past heroes: the likes of Dr M. I Okpara, Dee Sam Mbakwe, Bob Ogbuagu, and of course my late father, Ichie Oko Ume, who at their levels sacrificed so much for the good of Ndigbo.

Surely, Great legend and the symbol of Igbo bravery, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, must be turning in his grave at the level of cowardice and political correctness that seem to have griped Igbo Leaders of our time!!!

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Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria.