Again, Ohanaeze wants govt to explain difference between IPOB and Miyetti Allah

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-political body, has decried what it said is the double standard exhibited by the Federal Government.

It noted that the government was using different standards to handle the issue of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the suspected Fulani herdsmen.

It also restated its demand for Buhari’s government to declare the Miyetti Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, also known as Miyetti Allah the umbrella body of the herdsmen, as a terrorist organisation, as was done to IPOB.

Ohanaeze also described as “most unfortunate” President Muhammadu Buhari’s comparison of the recent killings in Plateau State and others that have pervaded the country since his coming with killings in the administrations before his.

Following attacks meted out on Buhari following the killings of 218 persons, as claimed by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in Plateau State last Saturday, the presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, on Thursday listed some killings which he described as savage and brutal that took place during the PDP rule between 1999 and 2015 for which no national mourning was declared.

Adesina said, “November 20, 1999. Odi, in Bayelsa State which was invaded on the orders of a PDP President, about 2,500 people killed. No national mourning.

“Between February and May 2000, about 5,000 people were killed during riots over Sharia law in different parts of the North. No national mourning.

“In 2001, hundreds of people, including the old, infirm, women and children were killed in Zaki Biam. No crocodile tears.

“Between September 7 and 12, 2001, Jos, Plateau State, erupted in internecine killings. Between 500 and 1,000 people were killed. Flags were not flown at half mast.

“In February, 2004, at least 975 people were killed in Yelwa-Shendam, Plateau State. No mourning by the then ruling PDP.

“Between November 28 and 29, 2008, Jos was in flames again, with 381 deaths. No mourning. In 2010, 992 people killed in Jos. Mum was the word.

“In 2014 alone, according to Global Terrorism Index, at least 1,229 people were killed in the Middle Belt. No mourning.”

He went further to say, “Boko Haram killings in PDP years were over 10,000. PDP flags were still fluttering proudly in the sky.”

Adesina concluded by saying that the list showed that wanton killings had been with the country for some time.

READ ALSO: Oyedepo blows hot over Plateau killings, others

But the Ohanaeze, in a statement by the Special Adviser to its President General on Media and Publicity, Chief Emeka Attamah, described the Presidency list as “most unfortunate.”

Noting that “no human life is greater than the other and that two wrongs do not make a right,” Ohanaeze said that “rather than compare the number of casualties, the Federal Government should rejig its security apparatus, stop further killings and appease the families and communities affected by the senseless killings.”

The Igbo organisation added, “From the trend of events, it appeared as if General T.Y. Danjuma’s outcry that there was a grand design by some people to carry out ethnic cleansing in the country and that government was colluding with them was justified.”

Ohanaeze decried the double standard exhibited by the Federal Government in the handling of the issues of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the suspected Fulani herdsmen, restating its demand for Buhari’s government to declare the Miyetti Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria the umbrella body of the herdsmen, as a terrorist organisation, as was done to the IPOB.

“While the Federal Government proscribed IPOB, a harmless organisation, Miyetti Allah which has openly claimed responsibility for most of the attacks for just the killing or rustling of their cattle has gone around unscathed. If government could label IPOB a terrorist organisation, there was no reason the Miyetti Allah, the umbrella body of cattle herders, should not be proscribed and their leaders prosecuted,” Ohanaeze said.

 

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