Unprovoked killings: Ohanaeze youth bans herdsmen from S'East

 www.odogwublog.com reports that piqued by the rising incidents of unprovoked attacks, killings and maiming of host communities by murderous Fulani herdsmen, the youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has banned herdsmen from every state of South East geopolitical zone.

Resultantly, the Ohanaeze Youth Council ( OYC), has issued a quit notice to all Fulani herdsmen in South East, warning that any herdsman who fails to vacate the zone immediately is at his own peril.

OYC in a strongly- worded press statement issued yesterday, said Igbo youths would no longer stand idle and watch killer herdsmen disposes them of their  ancestral land and turn them into refugees in their own land.

The statement jointly signed by its National President, Okechukwu Isiguzoro; Secretary General ,  Okwu Nnabuike; and National Publicity Secretary, Obinna Adibe, said herdsmen had remained constant source of sorrow, pain and economic injury to their host communities, hence the proscription of their activities from Igbo land.

It read in part: "The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide met and discussed extensively the recent killings by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria and resolved as follows :

"That The activities of Fulani herdsmen and the Benue massacre are unfortunate and can cause another avoidable tension in the country especially now that the elections of 2019 are around the corner.

" OYC vehemently condemn the terrorist attacks of farmers and host communities by  Fulani herdsmen and call for self defense as a measure to halt the menace.

"Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council worldwide has banned and proscribed the outlawed Fulani herdsmen in Igboland especially in the 95 LGAs  of South East.

"OYC  hereby issues this Warning to all the Fulani herdsmen that they should vacate South East immediately or face the wrath of Igbo youths  and any attempt to ignore this warning, they will have themselves to blame.

" We restate that all the activities of Fulani herdsmen have been proscribed and banned in South East with immediate effect."

OYC accused the Federal Government of maintaining criminal silence over the barbaric activities of killer herdsmen in parts of the country, urging it to quickly declare the marauders a terrorist organisation and treat them as such.

It warned that the activities of herdsmen if unchecked could plunge Nigeria into another civil and religious war which would consume the entire country.

The umbrella Igbo youth body also commended Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State; and Willie Obiano of Anambra State for their courage to stoutly reject the proposed establishment of 'toxic' cattle colony by the federal government , and urged other Governors in the zone to tow the same line.

OYC told the federal government to limit the proposal to the home states of Fulani herdsmen, and to also consider the establishment of pig colonies in the North if it is sincere about the policy.