…Accuses South-East Governors of Complicity
A new investigative report by a leading civil liberties organisation has revealed that over 950 locations in about 800 Igbo communities across the South-East region are currently under threat or occupation by armed Jihadist Fulani herdsmen and allied groups.
The report, released on Monday by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), accuses the five Christian governors of the South-East of complicity in the deepening insecurity through what it described as “religiously radicalised land procurement, communal land ceding and secretive issuance of Certificates-of-Occupancy” to jihadist patrons.
The organisation claimed its findings expose “three-way direct or vicarious involvement” of the governors—four of them Catholics and one a Seventh Day Adventist—in an alleged land swap deal tied to electoral victories and court rulings.
Intersociety’s lead researcher, Emeka Umeagbalasi, warned of the grave consequences of such actions, describing them as “a direct threat to faith and ethnic identity safety and security in the region.”
He stated: “There are likely to be not less than 950 locations in 770-800 of the existing 1,940 Igbo Trado-Judeo-Christian Communities across South-East of Nigeria that are presently under occupation or threats of attack by armed Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and allied others.”
The report also accused the governors of silence in the face of mounting violence, alleging that their failure to act as chief security officers has emboldened armed groups.
“The Five South-East Christian Governors have not only refused to speak out or rise in strong condemnation of the genocidal jihadist activities… but have also bluntly refused and failed to act,” the report read.
In a startling twist, the Abia State governor—once exempted from blame in Intersociety’s earlier report—has now been implicated following what the group called “fresh discoveries” of his administration’s involvement in legitimising jihadist settlements.
The report did not spare religious leaders either, accusing Episcopal and Pastoral heads of major churches of “losing their assertiveness and neutrality” by staying too close to state power.
“Some of them are facilitated by gubernatorial or political establishments to publicly speak or engage in false denials, misinformation or misrepresentation of facts whenever such jihadist herders attacks erupt,” Intersociety said.
Referencing ongoing attacks in Northern Nigeria, especially in Benue State, the group warned that the South-East risks a similar fate if the current trend is not reversed.
It quoted Revd Father Joseph Beba of the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association, Makurdi Diocese, who recently revealed: “15 Catholic Parishes under Makurdi Diocese have been closed down or sacked and over 50 Christians hacked to death by armed herders in the past two weeks.”
The group estimates that between 20,500 and 21,000 defenceless Southeasterners have been killed in the past decade, many of them victims of jihadist groups operating under the alleged watch of biased security forces. It further claimed that 40 per cent of kidnapping and ransom incidents in the region are linked to these groups, yet they remain largely absent from official security reports.
Intersociety commended communities like Okahia in Obingwa, Abia State, and Umuapu-Ohaji and Obitti-Ohaji in Imo State for their courage in speaking out and defending their lands.
As of press time, none of the South-East governors named in the report had responded to the allegations.
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