Ohanaeze Ndigbo has expressed disgust at a statement credited to the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, threatening to impose a state of emergency in the South-East if Governors of the states allowed any further attack on security forces in the states, a statement he has not denied.
A statement signed by Prince Uche Achi-Okpaga, Ag National Secretary & National Publicity Secretary, said that while Ohanaeze Ndigbo decries violence in any form in the states, it takes particular exception to an open threat and warning to South East governors who by the country’s constitution are chief security officers of their states but are lame ducks in practice as all security commands come from Abuja.
According to the statement, Ohanaeze Ndigbo finds it particularly provocative for General Buratai to issue such a warning to governors of the South East where relative peace prevails while he has not done the same in the North Central, North West and North East which have become theatres of war and where army posts and bases have been subjected to incessant attacks by the Boko Haram, ISWA/ISIS, bandits and Fulani herdsmen, killing and maiming Nigerian soldiers.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo also wonders where the army chief derives the power to issue such a threat which under the country’s constitution can only be carried out by the National Assembly on demand by the President.
“It is highly surprising that an army chief who was watching as the governor of Katsina State was negotiating and taking pictures with armed bandits would turn round to threaten to impose a state of emergency in states where unarmed citizens are agitating against the harsh and inhuman conditions they have been subjected to by their country.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo believes that the threat by General Buratai is a vindication of the belief that the South East is being regarded as a conquered territory, exemplified in the army of occupation stationed in the area.
“It is also a glaring example of the reckless impunity of public officers and a tacit manifestation of the vacuum in governance at the Federal level,” the statement declared.
