By Onyekachi Eze
Following the lingering crisis bedeviling the Fulani cattle settlement across some parts of Igboland, a notable and foremost socio- cultural organization, the Association of South East Town Unions (ASETU) has disclosed its readiness in ensuring effective security services to lives and property of the masses, if the Presidency is weak in addressing the disturbing menace.
Speaking on the recent moves by the Presidency in establishing cattle settlements in some parts of Igboland, which apparently did not receive a kudos of the majority, the National President of ASETU, Chief Emeka Diwe said the Association is willing and ever ready to protect the lives of property of Igbo people.
Chief Diwe said as those at the grassroots, they will deploy their structure and members to protect Igboland, even though he called for the collaboration of the State Governments.
Still on the insecurity level in the country, he said, “Insecurity in the country has become an issue of great concern and has assumed a worrisome dimension to everybody especially to the Igbo who are the direct victims of many of the unrests we experience. This is so because the Igbo have the greatest individual concentration of investments scattered all over the country, so, they feel the impact more when it comes to damage to lives and property”.
He continued, “Honestly speaking, the activities of these people are quite worrisome and I believe, and rightly so too, that the government of the day is paying lip service to it. I say so because the Fulani herdsmen who are actively involved in these acts at the moment are enjoying immunity from the government and when it becomes obvious that none of the people arrested so far has been prosecuted, then there is a field day in crime. The only person that can stop the activities of the killer herdsmen is the president himself. I say so not only because he is the president but because these people are his kinsmen. So, he is in a better position to talk to them in a language that they will understand”.
In a related development, Chief Diwe opined that If the president who is controlling all the security apparatus in the country can allow the activities of the Fulani herdsmen to continue unabated, then the talk about complicity may not be far from the truth, adding that when a criminal, rightly or wrongly, feels he enjoy some degree of immunity from prosecution, it makes that criminal to step up his or her criminal activities”.
Making a remark on the establishment of Fulani vigilance groups across the states, the ASETU president disclosed that, “It is a mischievous proposal, a smokescreen to shield the reality behind the real. The vigilante being proposed is nothing but an invading army put together to facilitate the expansionist agenda of the Fulani Nationalist Movement. We cannot be fooled. The South East Governors have taken a firm stand on this by unequivocally saying ‘no’ to the proposal. However, I would appeal to the South East Governors to follow up on this rejection by partnering the town unions to ensure security at the grassroots. The town union is willing, ready and better placed to mobilize the necessary intelligence and human resource to ensure security of life and property in every community across the length and breadth of Igboland”.
