By Stanley Nwanosike
FORMER Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, Amb. Bianca Ojukwu, has decried the deteriorating security situation in the South-Eastern part of the country.
She made this known at the annual conference of the American Veterans of of Igbo Descent (AVID) on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, made available to newsmen in Enugu.
The theme of the conference is: “Stand Up For Your People,” which focuses on the current security challenges facing South-Eastern Nigeria, the homeland of the Igbo ethnic group.
The widow of the late Biafra leader, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, also called for the release of Mr Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
“Once he (Kanu) is set free, the security situation in the South-East would greatly improve,” she said.
She also called on Igbo people in the diaspora to continue to uphold and defend their core values, sense of identity and heritage.
According to her, their concerns about the worsening security situation in the South-East are justified.
She noted that the security situation was not only limited to the South-East, but a scourge ravaging most states in Nigeria.
Ojukwu also called on the governors of the South-East states to combine their collective will and collaborate more effectively toward tackling the security challenge.
“The state of insecurity in Igboland is posing an existential threat to life as we know it in our communities,” she emphasised.
She decried the incessant killings and kidnappings, the annexation and takeover of community farmlands by armed herdsmen and other dangerous invaders.
According to her, theses menaces have taken their toll on agro-economic and social activities in Igbo communities.
“Opportunistic criminal elements within Igbo land have hitched onto the separatist agitation bandwagon to commit heinous crimes, and seem to have sufficiently degraded the capabilities of security forces with their superior firepower.
“Many people are leaving their villages out of fear and once thriving communities have become depleted and devitalised and in some cases assuming the status and appearance of ghost towns,” she said.
She called on the governors of the South-East, who are the chief security officers of their states, to intensify their individual and collective efforts towards bringing the alarming situation under control.
Also speaking, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, (Abia North), said that the current state of insecurity in Igbo land could be traced to 2021.
“This is following the arrest and illegal detention till date of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” Abaribe said.
The senator wondered why the South-East remained the zone with the highest number of police and army checkpoints per kilometre in Nigeria.
“Yet, the so-called unknown gunmen and sundry insecurity purveyors roam about fearlessly in Ala-Igbo causing devastation without check,” he said.
He maintained that “it is only when the government and its security agencies genuinely want to tackle insecurity that it will be severely reduced across the country.”
Other speakers at the occasion included a former lawmaker and past Secretary to the Government of Imo,Uche Onyeagocha; business mogul, Chief Kingson Njoku and Haitian Senator, Jean Moise, among others.
Dr Sly Onyia, AVID President, announced that AVID was presently working on establishing a direct flight from the U.S. to the South-East.
The conference also featured a banquet, award presentations and the appointment of Ojukwu, who is a former Miss Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant winner, as the Patroness of AVID.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that AVID is a non-profit organisation, which comprises U.S. citizens of Igbo parentage.
They are either currently serving or have served in various branches of the country’s military at different times, in different conflicts and theatres of war. (NAN)
