Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has alleged that Fulani herdsmen were licenced to mindlessly kill innocent people without being arrested and prosecuted.
It also accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration of running ethnic-controlled armed forces bent on satisfying the desire for ethnic hegemony.
Reacting to the recent launch of Operation Amotekun, a regional security outfit by the South West, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, described the action as laudable.
In a statement on Friday, by the Special Adviser on Media to the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emeka Attamah, Nwodo said federating units in any federation have the right to control their domestic security.
Ohanaeze stated: “Our Army and Air Force are commanded by officers who should have retired according to establishment laws. In law, they are functus officio. The violation of our extant laws in this regard is simply to satisfy a desire for ethnic hegemony. To do this, their more competent juniors are retired not minding the huge resources the nation invested in their training. Posting, promotion, arrest, prosecution of offenders are carried out with an ethnic mindset. Ethnic cleansing appears to influence premature retirements.
“If you are a Fulani herdsman, you have a license to kill and escape arrest. Our troops fighting Boko Haram have low morale and motivation.
“In the South East, mere traveling on the highway attracts an illegal tax to law enforcement agencies, sometimes carrying POS machines to exploit cashless travellers who are forced to make transfers to private accounts. Who can resign his private security to this kind of arrangement?
“Can you run a federation where the federating units cannot control their domestic security? If a president, in violation of our immigration laws and extant treaties governing the movement of persons in our sub-region and continent, orders all Africans, including Boko Haram recruits, to come freely into our country without screening, won’t you be scared that everywhere is now a war front? What about the 12 million children out-of-school and the over 60 million unemployed youths waiting to vent their anger on all of us?
“I salute the South West governors. Nobody needs to tell any Nigerian today that your security is in your own hands!”