139 Communities, Villages & Areas In Igbo Land Presently In Violent Control Of Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen …Intersociety – TheNigerialawyer

* …Raises Alarm Over Elimination Of Senior Igbo Police
Officers From The Ranks Of CPs, AIGs and DIGs

The Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen, backed by the present Government
of Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo are presently in violent
control of 139 Communities, Villages and Areas in Igbo Land.

The violent occupation, also backed by the country’s security
forces, is widely and strongly believed to have religious
undertones or done for purposes of propagation and imposition of
radical Islamism in the Judeo-Christian dominated Southern Nigeria
and the Middle Belt including seven Igbo speaking States of Abia,
Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Delta and Rivers State as well as Igbo
areas of Benue and Kogi States and their Christian and animist
neighbors.

The present Government of Nigeria is also bent on erasing the
Igbo Nation particularly the Southeast Region from the top command
structure of the Nigeria Police Force and other branches of the
Nigerian Armed Forces. It must be alerted that no senior police
officer from the Southeast is among members of the Nigeria Police
Management Team, made up of serving IGP, seven DIGs and 20-22 AIGs
including the Force Secretary. Presently, no serving senior police
officer from the Southeast is AIG and DIG and out of 95 CPs, only
two are from the Igbo Southeast.

The above was the position of Int’l Society for Civil
Liberties & Rule of Law, Intersociety, as contained in
a statement issued today, 24^th August 2019 and signed by
Lawyers Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head of Civil Liberties & Rule of
Law, Evangeline Chidinma Udegbunam, Head of Campaign &
Publicity Dept and Emeka Umeagbalasi, a Criminologist &
Graduate of Security Studies and Board Chair of
Intersociety. Intersociety is led
by professionals and grassroots activists including criminologists,
security studies experts, lawyers, journalists and peace and
conflict resolution experts, etc.

The Federal Government and its security forces backed violent
occupation is also likely to be (or not) of the ‘Nigerian Forest
Mapping’ assignment, reportedly ordered by the Buratai led
authorities of the Nigerian Army in late 2015; said to have been
carried out for purpose of tackling insurgency and other ‘internal
insecurity challenges in Nigeria’.  The violent presence of
the Jihadists in Igbo Land is also independently linked to
insider gubernatorial conspiracy.  In other words,
suspicions are widely and independently strong and viral that the
violent presence of the Jihadists and patterns and trends of their
criminalities and crimes in Igbo Land are conspiratorially made
possible by gubernatorial second term or office succession
bids of the Southeast Govs starting with Anambra State in
2017. Though gubernatorial denials have been made, but such denials
have not flown convincingly among the mainstream homeland, outpost,
traveler and Diaspora Igbo People and their neighbors.

Facts Of The Matter: The violent takeover of 139 Igbo
Communities, Villages and Areas was according to the account of the
monthly Eastern Outlook, vol.003, 13^th
August-14^th Sept 2019 (p.15): the (Jihadist)
Fulani Herdsmen have taken over 139 Communities and Villages in
Igbo Land. The story was also authenticated by the
publisher of the Newspaper, Mr. Abia Onyike; a seasoned rights
activist, former Chair of CLO Southeast Zone and onetime
Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi State, Mr. Abia Onyike who
was met by Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi in Owerri at the venue of the
2019 Igbo Summit on Security, Peace & Dev in Igbo Land
& her neighbors, where Mr. Umeagbalasi was the key
speaker.

Mr. Umeagbalasi had at the summit spoken on:
Highlighting the Challenges of State and non State
actor created Insecurity in Igbo Land & her
Neighbors. The special summit, organized by the
Alaigbo Dev Foundation, the World Igbo Congress, the Association of
Southeast Town Unions and the Christian Association of Nigeria,
Southeast, etc, took place on 22^nd August 2019. The
20-page special security lecture will be made public in coming
days.  Mr. Abia Onyike had further disclosed that Enugu State
has the highest Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen presence with 56 spots,
followed by Anambra with 23, Imo 17, Ebonyi 12 and Abia seven. In
Igbo areas of Delta and Rivers States, there are 15 spots in Delta
and nine in Rivers.

Names Of The 139 Igbo Communities,
Villages & Areas & Their Locations By State:
Anambra: Nteje, Ogbunka, Ufuma, Ezira, Umunze, Umuchukwu, Akpu,
Ndikeilionwu, Ogboji, Ndiowu, Anam, Achala, Ebenebe, Ogbunike,
Osina, Okija, Ihiala, Ukpo, Dunukofia, Agulu, Neni, Ogbu and 3-3
Area of Nsugbe. Abia: Lokpanta, Leeru, Nkpa, Ohafia, Bende, Ubakala
and Owerre-Nta. Ebonyi: Emoha, Nkalagu, Afikpo, Izzi, Ezza,
Ezzaegu, Ezamgbo, Ukpo, Ekeimoha, Akpoha, Abomege and Onicha.
Enugu: Ibite Ogbaku, Akpugo, Achi, Amansii, Nachi, Ukpabi-Nimbo,
Ukpata, Akegbe-Ugwu, Ugwuoba, Eka Aku, Igbo-Etiti, Amagunze,
Amaechi Idodo, Ugwu-Onyeama, Egede.

Other Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen spots in Enugu are: Adada,
Nkpologwu, Afa, Opanda, Uzo Uwani, Uvuru, Adani, Ugwu Aboh, Waziri
Estate-Nsukka, Enugu-Ezike, Neke-Uno, Akpogasi, Ugwuogo, Ekpebe,
Madonna University Layout, Ihuokpa-3-Corner, Akwuke, Industrial
Layout-Emene, Unity Layout, Ibagwa-Nike City Layout-Amokwe,
Heritage Layout-Oyoho-Nike, Odo Rice-Emene, New Zion State
Layout-Ugwu Onyeama, Phase 11, Independence Layout, 4-Corner,
Redemption Layout, Amokpo, Ugbaka-Nkanu, Aninri and Awgu.

Others Are: Delta (Anioma Land): Agbor, Okpanam, Iselleukwu,
Oshimmili, Onicha-Ugbo, Ndokwa, Umunede, Ogwasiukwu, Ibusa
(Igbo-Uzor), Kwale, Obiaruku, Igbanke (Igbo-Akiri), Asaba (Ahaba)
and Ella. And Rivers: Onuimo, Ugurunta, Omoku, Ahuada, Omuha,
Emeoha, Okehi, Isiokpo, Oleh and Umuechem.

No Serving Igbo DIG & AIGs In The Nigeria Police Force:
Presently, there are no serving Igbo senior police officers in the
top ranks of DIG and AIG in Nigeria. The Southeast is presently not
a member of the Nigeria Police Management Team (PMT), composed of
serving IGP, seven DIGs and AIGs numbering not less than 20. By
Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution and the equity principles
of regional representation and national integration, the Police
Service Commission is tasked to ensure non exclusion of any
geopolitical zone in the ranking and promotion of senior police
officers and assignment of duties to them. The senior police
officers affected are those classified and captured in ‘the
Police Officers Senior Staff List: IGP-CSP’, updated
monthly.

Contrarily, as it stands presently, the authorities of PSC and
the NPF are observing the referenced constitutional provision and
principles in gross breach; by deliberately and hatefully
excluding, if not erasing names of senior Igbo police officers from
such sensitive positions. For instance, it is factually
authoritative that DIG Godwin C. Nwobodo from Aninri, Enugu State;
with police appointment number (AP 24188) has retired since
12^th August 2019 without replacement. Until his
retirement, he was a member of the Nigeria Police Management Team,
representing Southeast Zone and DIG in charge of Department of
Information & Communication Technology (ICT) at Force
Headquarters.

Former CP, but now retired AIG Chris Okey Ezike (AP 24182) from
Ogboji, Anambra State was the only serving Igbo AIG as at March
2019, out of 20 serving AIGs then. He later retired in the same
March without replacement on 19^th March 2019. In all
these, it is not as if no promotion exercise had taken place per
PSC and NPF since then. As a matter of fact, there was a promotion
exercise held on 31^st March 2019 by the authorities of
the Police Service Commission at its 5^th Plenary Meeting
that took place on 26^th and 27^th March 2019.
During the promotion exercise involving promotion of ‘8,916 senior
police officers to their next substantive ranks to fill existing
vacancies’, no senior Igbo police officer was among those promoted
to the ranks of CP and AIG. This is despite the fact that three CPs
(Jona Jackson Mava, Olusola Babajide David and Titus Sumba Larmode)
were elevated to AIG while two (Rudolf Echebi Obe) and Danladi B.
Lalas) got confirmed as substantive CPs.

Only Two Serving Igbo CPs In NPF Out Of 95
CPs: Apart from targeting to promote Igbo senior
police officers to their next substantive ranks only at the
twilight of their statutory retirements, there are presently only
two serving Igbo Commissioners of Police in Nigeria, out of 95
serving CPs. CP Damian Agba Chukwu (AP24247) from Owerre in Imo
State, has since retired without replacement on 31^st
April 2019; likewise CP Onyegoro Ebere Chijioke (AP25157) from
Owerre, Imo State who retired without replacement since
25^th May 2019. Another Igbo CP, Damian Nkem (AP21914)
from Owerre, Imo State also retired without replacement since
2^nd April 2019. As it stands now, there are only two
serving Igbo Commissioners of Police in Nigeria. They are CP
Celestine Okoye (AP25102) from Awka-Anambra State who will retire
on 22^nd Dec 2020 and CP Joseph O. Egbunike (AP30427)
from Onitsha-Anambra State who will retire on 4^th June
2022.

Contacts:

Website/URL: www.intersociety-ng.org^[1],

Email: infointersociety-ng.org^[2]

Mobile/WhatsApp Line: +2348174090052

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