Ohanaeze Youths want Bakassi Boys to return over alleged herdsmen planned attack on Southeast

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council has called for the return of the dreaded Bakassi Boys in the Southeast over fears of planned massive attacks by Fulani Herdsmen on the zone.

The council also called on the governors in the South-East to ensure the Bakassi Boys are reformed so that they can safeguard the region, lamenting that herdsmen were terrorising the region like they were doing in other parts of the country.

The President-General of the group, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, made the call on Saturday in a statement in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.

The OYC also called on the leadership of the incoming Houses of Assembly in all the states in the Southeast to immediately enact laws for the establishment of special vigilance groups to protect boundaries in Igboland.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide which has silently studied the recent threat of genocidal ethnic cleansing by Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria against the people of the South East for ‘their alleged stubbornness’ and subsequently the denial of Gidado Siddiki for his apologies and explanations to our people.

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“The apologies are dead on arrival as it’s a diversionary tactic to take the people of South-East unawares to douse the already soaked tension emanating from the leaked alleged statement.

“We will not take laws into our hands to fight back, but rather as a matter of urgency, we call for the quick return of dreaded Bakassi Boys with special mandate to engage the armed herdsmen or the establishment of fierce and vibrant vigilant groups.

“We call on the incoming leadership of Houses of Assembly in Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States, and in Anambra to proceed without delay to enact laws to establish local vigilante groups with special mandate to protect our boundaries and fish out armed herdsmen.”

It would be recalled that there had been anxiety in the zone after a press statement was alleged to have surfaced online, claiming that the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria planned to attack the South-East governors and their people.

However, the Chairman of MACBAN in the zone, Gidado Siddiki, said the purported statement emanated from mischiefmakers and not his members, adding that the group maintained a cordial relationship with the South-East governors and their people.

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