Following the bloody attack on Nimbo Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State by suspected Fulani herdsmen, the Youth Wing of Ohaaneze Ndigbo at the weekend declared that the safety of Fulani herdsmen and their cattle was no longer guaranteed in Igboland.

The group made the declaration after a fact-finding visit to Nimbo on Friday.

During the visit, they met various stakeholders, including the Igwe of Nimbo, H.R.H. John Akor, community heads and youth leaders, among others, and visited the scenes of the attack to see for themselves the burnt churches, houses and vehicles.

In a statement by Mazi Arthur Obiorah, Acting National President, Stanley Nwanka, Acting National Secretary, and 14 others, the group condemned the attacks  by the Fulani militants in Ukpabi Nimbo as unacceptable in any civilized society, lamenting that unarmed civilians including children were murdered in their sleep, their throats slit, some beheaded after being shot dead, skulls hewed open, bodies disembowelled and women gang-raped.

The statement read in part: “We are alarmed at the complicity of the Nigerian Police, DSS and the Nigerian Army in the ongoing human carnage. Hon. Cornel Onwubuya,  the Uzo-Uwani L.G.A. Caretaker Chairman, held a meeting with the Fulani community and representatives of these security agencies on Saturday, April 23, 2016 to avert the attack.  Yet, they were abandoned to their fate as the Fulani, currently rated as the fourth deadliest terrorist group on the Global Terror Index, struck  two days later in the early hours of the day with two busloads of terrorists and seemingly vanished into thin air.

“About a month ago, soldiers abducted peasant farmers in Ugwuleshi, Awgu, Enugu State, who were protesting the destruction of their farms by marauding Fulani herdsmen and handed them over to the Nigerian Police in Abia State (another state) where they were summarily arraigned and remanded in prison custody for three weeks.

“Till date, the Nigerian Army is yet to unmask those behind the abduction whether they are real or fake soldiers, as alleged by Army authorities. The Abia State Command of the Nigerian Police is also yet to reveal the identity of the soldiers who conveyed the 76 farmers in army trucks to them in Abia State for offences allegedly committed in another state.

“It is obvious that the security of Ndigbo does not matter to this government. For the first time since 1999, the membership of the National Security Council totally excludes Ndigbo, whether from the South-East or the South-South, as no Igbo is among the service chiefs, heads of para-military agencies.”

The group said in the light of the foregoing, Ndigbo have no other option than to defend themselves.

The Ohanaeze youth disclosed that their legal team has been briefed to initiate legal action against the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Army and the Director-General of the DSS for their roles in the ongoing massacre of Ndigbo.