Iwuanyanwu To Pres. Buhari: Investigate Herdsmen That Attacked Enugu Community

An Igbo leader and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently investigate herdsmen that carried out killings of villagers of Ukpabi Nimbo community in Enugu State recently.

Iwuanyanwu who spoke in Owerri said the investigation is important to ascertain if there was any collaboration between Boko Haram sect members and the herdsmen considering the strange manner the attacks were carried out.

He described the attack as a new phenomenon about the cattle rearers, because as he recalled, "many years the Fulani herdsmen co- existed peacefully with the rest of Nigerians and they  have done their businesses and reared their cattle without harassment and raping”
He said if the matter is treated with levity, it may pose a serious danger to the unity and peaceful co-existence of the country

“This matter should no longer be treated with levity but regarded as a matter that can seriously affect the peace, unity and economic progress of this country, which all of us is trying to achieve. For example, most farmers in these areas are afraid to go to their farms for fear that they may be killed or raped by this group, resulting in poor agriculture production in Igboland and other parts of Nigeria, where they are invading”. He said

He also regretted that since the invasion, kidnapping and raping by the herdsmen commenced years ago, that there had not been any arrest nor prosecution/conviction whatsoever made.

He noted, “Since the history of this country, Igbos have never initiated a bloody attack against any part of Nigeria. On the other hand, Igbos has been attacked in many places on every flimsy reason. The matter has deteriorated to a situation, where Igbos are been attacked, slaughtered, dispossessed, their women raped in their home land by a group alleged to be Fulani herdsmen. The recent attack in Ukpabi Nimbo in Enugu State is very painful to Nigeria and to Igbos in particular”.

BY EZE EGEJURU 

 PHOTO: CHIFE EMMANUEL IWUANYANWU