BY PRINCELY ONYENWE, IMO –
The convener of GLOBAL ASSOCIATION OF CONCERNED IMO YOUTHS (GACIY), Collins Ughalaa KSC has issued a strict warning to IPOB to stop FORTHWITH the SIT-AT-HOME order in South-East Nigeria.
The warning was contained in a release signed on September 14, 2021, and made available to 9News Nigeria.
The release revealed that on Monday 13th Sept 2021, candidates and examiners ran for dear lives as gunmen descended on Nkume Comprehensive School Njaba, Imo State, disrupted an ongoing exam and set fire to WAEC materials.
The gunmen, (out to enforce a so-called sit-at-home order from the IPOB), struck while students were taking the English Language paper.
GACIY has viewed such as an attack on the psych of all learners in Igbo land as they now face their studies in trepidation unsure of what might follow.
A few weeks ago, gunmen burnt passengers alive for daring to travel on Monday.
Trucks conveying merchandise have also met similar fate at the hands of armed enforcers in different parts of the state just for moving on Monday.
The IPOB ‘decreed’ sit-at-home every Monday (from 9th August) in solidarity with their leader Nnamdi Kanu who is currently on trial.
The ‘order’ was later revised to take effect only when Mr Kanu was to appear in court. His next court date is Oct, 21, 2021.
Despite this, the IPOB ‘order’ has produced 8 unsolicited holidays in the South East between August 9 and Sept 14, 2021. Apparently, the arrowheads have lost touch with their foot soldiers. The falcon no longer hears the falconer.
The group has re-assured that Igboland has been reduced to a whipping boy, a punching bag by such act of IPOB members who use the opportunity to cause problems in the land.
Perceived wrongs of the Federal Government are visited on the masses of Igbo Land. At the slightest impulse, a holiday is slammed on innocent citizens trying to find their daily bread amid mounting economic uncertainty.
Having witnessed the butchering of their neighbours, not by foreigners but by fellow kinsmen, many stay indoors out of terror.
Financial experts say these shutdowns have cost the SouthEast over N30b. But the long term impact has not been calculated.
Aware that only a fool will kill his brothers, and destroy businesses in his homeland just to send a message to his ‘enemies’; aware of the long-term repercussions of violent agitation; aware, too, that silence could mean endorsement,
The group however made the following statements:
1) we condemn the brazen attack on Nkume Comprehensive School, Njaba, Imo State.
2) we call on government to immediately fish out the perpetrators and take steps to secure all schools across Imo and the Southeast in order to restore the confidence of learners and teachers.
3) we call on Government to reclaim the public space and guarantee the security of persons who wish to go about their lawful business regardless of any sit-at-home order.
4) we encourage traditional and religious leaders to likewise condemn this assault on education and basic human rights particularly in Imo.
5) we call on the IPOB and other aggrieved groups to step out of their echo chambers and smell the room. Frustration at these callous restrictions of people’s rights is fast mounting. Soon, the people will take their lives in their hands.
9News Nigeria (Owerri)
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