Igbo union demands trial of soldiers who invaded Enugu community

THE Igbo Improvement Union, also called Oganiru Ndi Igbo has called on the Nigerian Army to set up a probe panel that will un­ravel identities of soldiers who invaded Ugwuleshi Community in Enugu State, arrested 76 persons and threw them into jail without trial for protesting alleged abduction of two of their women by Fulani herds­men.

The union also called on the Federal Government to prosecute Fulani herds­men and the soldiers, and noted that the silence of the authorities is most provoca­tive.

This was contained in a two-page communiqué issued at BENAC Hotel, Umuahia, at the weekend after a conference in which they deliberated extensively on the state of the Igbo na­tion in the Nigerian Federa­tion.

They noted and empha­sised that the driving force of the organisation remains the social, political, eco­nomic and cultural advance­ment of Ndi Igbo at home and in the diaspora through communal efforts and proj­ects that are geared towards addressing the problems be­setting the Igbo nation.

They deliberated on the interim reports of its various committees, namely, the committee on Igbo margin­alisation, erosion control, mobilisation of Igbo youths, women, academia, market, religious organisation as well as Igbo in diaspora.

They also expressed concern over the ecologi­cal devastation of igbo land, particularly, the ero­sion menace which is be­ing compounded by the indiscriminate excavation by federal and state govern­ment contractors.

They called on the state governments of the South eastern states to quickly regulate activities of the land excavators and pros­ecute the offenders.

They noted the effects of indiscriminate graz­ing by Fulani herdsmen of the already eroded soil of Igbo land and implored the Federal Government to excise Igbo land from the proposed national grazing routes/ranch as the vulner­able Igbo land can no lon­ger sustain the desasterous effects of Fulani herdsmen over grazing on their ecol­ogy.

They regretted a situa­tion where over 20 per cent of the total landmass of the Igbo has already been lost to erosion due to indiscrim­inate excavation, over graz­ing and the abandonment of the age old ancestral prac­tice of man made ponds that channel water which curtails erosion. The com­muniqué was signed by 14 designated members of the organisation representing their states, including the National Secretary, Chief Edozie Njoku.