Former Governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko has berated Igbo leaders for giving tacit approval to the criminal activities of Indegenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East that is threatening the peace and stability of Nigeria as a country.
This was contained in a statement he personally signed with the caption: ‘A Clarion Call on Igbo leaders: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’ which was made available to newsmen in Abuja.
He said, “What could have been dismissed as the action of a few ‘misguided’ youths is now clearly becoming an agenda for which there is almost a wholesome backing from those who should have cautioned their children and nip the emerging crisis in the bud.
This silence of the leaders he said has embolden IPOB to become deadlier.
“We have seen a disturbing snowballing of a little flame into a raging fire that is threatening the peace and stability of Nigeria as a country.
He said prior to the assassination of Ahmed Gulak last Sunday in Imo, dozens of Northerners had suffered similar fate in the hands of the increasingly emboldened IPOB militants.
The Senator said, many Northerners living peacefully in some states in the South-East have come under undue harassments lately while a number of them have been murdered in cold blood for simply coming from a section of the country.
“Those killings are largely under-reported perhaps because the victims are not prominent and partly because of a deliberate culture of silence in a section of the media about what is happening.
“In the past week alone, there have been three incidences of arsons and looting against properties belonging to Northern traders travelling in the South-East.
“Last weekend, a truck of onions with about 500 bags of the commodity was ransacked by members of the IPOB in a daylight robbery in Owerri.
“They sold the onions and ran away with the money before the police could save the other truck they similarly took.
“Around the same time, two trucks conveying palm oil from Enugu to Kano were intercepted and razed down in Nsukka, for no reason.
“Just yesterday, a truck delivering livestock to Anambra was burnt down along with the animals it carried in the streets of Awka.
Accordkng to him, through all these, as individual leaders and collectively, they have maintained a studied silence by avoiding anything that will further rock the boat.
“Rather, we have been restraining our own people who are victims of these atrocities by preaching patience and peace.
“Regrettably but curiously, our friends and compatriots, leaders of Igbo extraction, have remained dead silent in the face of increasing assault and effort by their own people to stock a nationwide mayhem.
“For whatever reason it is, I want to loudly call them out to speak up.
Silence is no longer acceptable in the face of this clear danger and threat against the country.”
He warned that the day the victim decides to pay back the aggressor it will not be good for everybody.
The former Governor said, while expressions and legitimate demands fall within the constitutional rights of all citizens in a constitutional democracy, it is sad to note that is being witnessed today has transcended beyond genuine expression into a full scale war against Nigeria and a section of its peoples.
“The silence by political leaders and other prominent persons from that part of the country tells us only one thing: Their tacit approval for the activities of the murderous IPOB gangs.
As leaders they have been under intense pressure over the current situation saying they cannot bear it any longer.
“There is no part of Nigeria without its own share of discomfort and even reservations about the state of our country.
“Addressing such challenges require sincere political engagement, not threats and violence.
“Besides, quest for political answers to one’s grievances should never be directed at hapless citizens who are going about their own legitimate businesses.”
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