Nnia Nwodo's Oversight On Insecurity In Ala-Igbo
he President General of Oha na Eze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo a fortnight was reported in the news as saying that Igbo miscreants were hiding under Fulani herdsmen to perpetrate evil in Igboland. This might not be verbatim his statement, but the meaning in his original statement is not missing in the way I have relayed Nwodo's comment. However, he has right to freedom of expression, but some expressions intended to mislead, is fraud and should not be accepted.
I am not sure from where and how Nwodo came to his conclusion or the parameter used. If I must take some comments in the media before his overtures, then his has no base. For instance, in the recent past, the Governor of Ebonyi state cried out that Fulani herdsmen were raping their women and desecrating their land. Governor Umahi didn't say, they were Igbo people. Within the time under review, there was a video that showed paraded Fulani herdsmen who massacred hundreds in *Nimo* of Enugu state in 2016. The herdsmen said that they videoed their operation to show their *Masters* that what they were sent for was effectively carried out. Few days ago, I read in the news that some Fulani herdsmen have been arrested in connection to the killing of one Rev. Fr. Offu in Enugu. The same time, I read that the kidnappers of an Enugu monarch and his wife have been arrested. The kidnappers names mentioned, I did not read that Ibe or Ike was among. The names were Fulani. Inter alia, it was not any Nwodo's *Igbo miscreants* that recently said ala-Igbo will soon boil since we are stubborn. It was a scribe of Miyetti Allah that said so, of which Nwodo responded stoutly, but is today cranking.
What was expected of Nwodo is to say that security agents are extorting Ndigbo heavily in the Southeast in the name of checkpoints. On the southeast roads, there is checkpoint in every metre. What was expected of Nwodo to ask is what Customs are doing on the Igbo roads as if ala-Igbo is a border of Nigeria and another country. Apart from these, what is yet to be asked by Nwodo was how come Miyetti Allah says it is setting up Ruga settlements in Enugu whereas the ilk of Nwodo had said that they rejected Ruga in any path of Igbo land.
It is not good to kill the goose and exonerate the ganger. Nwodo did not tell the southeast governors that proscribed IPOB to do same to Fulani herdsmen in the southeast since even Umahi could broadcast their evil deeds in ala-Igbo.
Given the above, let me not believe that there are powers that be whom the Nwodos in the southeast are acting their script for paltry self-derivations. If not, I wonder why their eyes are on calling Ndigbo *miscreants*, proscribing IPOB but left the murderous Fulani herdsmen, per metre security checkpoints, and customs in the nooks and crannies of southeast.
Odimegwu Onwumere is a Poet, Writer, Consultant, and an Award-winning Journalist based in Rivers State, Nigeria. Mobile: +2348032552855. Email: [email protected]