…calls for the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu
From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
The Igbo Women Assembly (IWA) has called on south East governors to take urgent and decisive steps to curb the incessant killings and insecurity plaguing the region.
This is as the women accused the federal government of clamping down on the Indigenous people of Biafra and its affiliate the Eastern Security Network ( IPOB\ESN) but has done nothing to curb tie murderous activities of armed Fulani Herdsmen in the region .
Speaking to Newsmen in Owerri , Imo state capital on Sunday, IWA National President, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, decried the worsening security situation, stating that many women in rural communities can no longer access their farms due to the activities of armed Fulani herders.
Lolo Chimezie expressed dismay over what she described as the silence and inaction of South East governors in the face of continued violence and killings of hapless citizens of the zone.
“Governments were quick to clamp down on IPOB, but why is the Federal Government not taking action against the killings by armed herders in Igbo land?” she queried .
She also called for the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), stating that he is being punished for standing up for the people.
In addition, Lolo Chimezie urged the Federal Government and former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, to issue a formal apology to the Igbo people, citing revelations in a book by former President Ibrahim Babangida that allegedly absolved the Igbo of responsibility for the 1966 coup.
“The false narrative that the 1966 coup was an Igbo affair led to the killing of over 30,000 Igbo in the North, and eventually triggered the civil war. The Nigerian state owes the Igbo people an apology and compensation,” she stated.
She added that if the late Moshood Abiola could be recognised as the face of democracy in Nigeria, then a national day should be set aside to honour the Igbo victims of the pogrom and civil war.
Similarly, the Imo State Coordinator of IWA, Ambassador Ijeoma Nwachukwu, described the killings in the region as traumatic and heartbreaking.