The Igbo Civil Society Coalition
(ICSCO), a coalition of civil society organisations, activists, human rights
groups and the academia in Igboland has claimed that the Nigerian Army killed
no fewer than 100 people and injured 200 others during the Army operation
‘Python Dance’ in the south-east last year.
The fresh allegation was
contained in a communique issued by the group at the end of its meeting in
Enugu on Tuesday.
The groups equally rejected the
proposed cattle colony of the federal government in the southeast, describing
it as a ploy to achieve islamization agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The communique was signed by the
National Coordinator, Professor Obasi Igwe and convener Mazi Ikechukwu Bismarck
Oji.
The communiqué titled: “Nigeria
must value her citizens’ lives” reads:
That ICSCO met today in Enugu at
its first General Congress of the year to assess, review in the polity last
year and in the first few weeks of this year, as it affects Ndigbo, the
following communiqué was issued:
“We aver that Genocide did occur
during last year’s Operation Python Dance II in the South East. From our
investigation, at least 100 lives were confirmed lost and at least 200 nursing
various degrees of injury and permanent disabilities.
“The Nigerian Government must as
a matter of conscience acknowledges that the Nigerian Army overstepped its
bounds during the Operation and culprits in the killing of civilians and other
gross human right violations brought to book.
“We note that till date, the
Nigerian Army has not taken any steps to punish the soldiers that invaded the
Abia State NUJ Secretariat and brutalized journalists during the operation
despite pledging to do so.
“The arrest of two journalists
–the Elombah brothers by the dreaded SARS on allegations of publishing libelous
information about the IG of Police is another instance of human right violation
that justifies the call by well meaning Nigerians for the scrapping of the anti
robbery squad.
“Furthermore, we totally condemn
the seeming inaction being exhibited by the Federal Government with regards to
the ongoing massacre of defenseless citizens across the country especially in
Benue and Taraba States by marauding Fulani “herdsmen” rated globally as the
4th most dangerous terrorist group.
“We are disappointed that despite
previous similar occurrences of these inhuman attacks, the Federal Government
has done nothing to either stop the attacks or protect the unsuspecting
citizens/victims or punish the law breakers.
“We call on the National Assembly
to rise up to the occasion by prevailing on the President to give the IGP
marching orders to arrest and prosecute leaders of Miyetti Allah who are
walking around freely after carrying out their threat of unleashing violence on
Benue state for enacting the Anti- Grazing law.
“Also, we demand that a thorough
census of lives and property lost in all the places where the herdsmen had
wreaked havoc be articulated and adequate compensations paid to the victims by
the Federal Government.
“ICSCO states that the cattle
business is a private business being run almost exclusively by the Fulanis just
like Ndigbo and other Nigerian tribes have businesses that they predominate.
That notwithstanding, these other tribes do not carry out their businesses to
the detriment of others. We are therefore at a loss on why the Government is
hell bent on confiscating other people’s lands for the Fulani’s cattle trade
worth trillions of Naira annually, out of which they pay no tax to the
Government. Therefore, we will mobilise our people to resist any State
Governor’s attempt to allocate land for the project in Ala-Igbo.”
The Army had several times
insisted that nobody was killed during the operation, which it said was a
regular military exercise and not targeted at anyone.
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