NewsNigeriaPoliticsInternational body condemns the attack on Igbos in Lagos

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has frowned upon the post-election attacks on the Igbos of the South East region in Lagos State by state-sponsored agents.

It is to be recalled that during the presidential election, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, a former governor of Lagos State and the eventual winner of the election, lost the state to Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, a former governor of Anambra State.

The shocking performance of Obi in the February 25 polls, unsettled the entire political structure in the state, breeding fear, anxiety and panic ahead of the March 18 gubernatorial election.

Obi’s victory caused the opposition parties and candidates to resort to pulling ethnic strings to win the electorate’s support. Consequently, the gubernatorial election was marred by unprecedented violence, intimidation and bully, especially to the Igbos.

After the 2023 general election, there was a surge in the attacks on Igbos amid threats and intimidations for the non-indigenes to leave Lagos. The attacks include physical violence, hate speeches and incitement to ethnic cleansing.

In a press release on Tuesday, signed by its board chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, Intersociety decried the well-organised and systematic attacks on the Igbos which it describes as “genocidal Igbonisation”.

“In Lagos State, easterners, hatefully labelled ‘Igbo People’ have severally come under attacks,” the statement noted.

“In the past 117 days of 2023 or between January 1 and April 17, 2023, for instance, there have been at least four major fire outbreaks targeted at the destruction of hundreds of millions of naira markets and other properties belonging to defenceless easterners in the state.

“The above is in addition to catalogues of group violence, threats and fears unleashed on the easterners across the state.”

The civil society organisation lamented the silence of the state government and security agencies over the lingering violence, warning that the consequences of the attacks might be dire.

“Despite their large size, the ethnic nationality is the most peaceful in Nigeria. With such global networks and connections, pushing them to the wall and into genocidal self-defence will most likely have serious retaliatory effects and consequences far beyond the imagination and containment of those fanning the embers of the anti-Igbo/Eastern genocide.

“It is therefore dangerous and a time bomb threatening such populous, strategic and powerful ethnic nationality with genocide or incitement to them.”

Intersociety further called on the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union to “sincerely watch over the embryos of genocide rearing their ugly heads in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos” and take an unbiased and proactive measure to quench the crisis.