Treat herdsmen as Boko Haram, Iwuayanwu tells FG

Treat herdsmen as Boko Haram, Iwuayanwu tells FG

Frontline Igbo poli­tician, Chief Em­manuel Iwuayanwu, has urged the Federal Government to treat as a matter of urgency the recurrent invasion and killing of Igbo farmers by Fulani herdsmen as a case of the Boko Haram sect in the Northeast.

Iwuayanwu who a­ddressed journalists yes­terday in an emotion-laden voice said that this has become imperative following the danger and threat the herdsmen who, he noted, operate in a similar way with the dreaded sect.

He stressed that if the activities of the herds­men are not urgently checked, the situation could snowball into a national disaster. The elder statesman opined that if the herdsmen are allowed to link strongly with Boko Haram, simi­lar acts exhibited by the sect could be witnessed in the Southeast.

While describing the Enugu incident as pa­thetic, he added that the worst thing that has happened to an Igbo man is to attack him in his house.

Iwuayanwu further expressed worry that the constant invasion of farms in the Southeast could lead to famine in the region and other places grazed by the herdsmen if the farmers continue to be afraid of going to their farms.

The actions of the herdsmen is a new phenomenon, where are this people from, farmers are now afraid to go to their farms, police may not be enough to garrison every land in Igbo land, it may lead to famine and hun­ger, Iwuayanwu said.

He however appealed to youths and other organisations in the Southeast to shun reprisal attacks, noting that such action could only worsen the situation at hand.