Our lives in danger, Igbo communities in Benue State cry out for help

Samuel Ortom. Photo: TWITTER/BENUE STATE

• BSN tasks Buhari on security
Igbo communities in various parts of Benue State, especially Gboko, have raised the alarm over threat to their lives.

The alarm was sequel to alleged plans to kidnap and murder the Igbo in the state by native gangs, suspected herdsmen and bandits.

A prominent Igbo businessman in Gboko, Mr. Okafor Nnolim, told journalists in Enugu State yesterday that no week passes without an Igbo person being kidnapped or murdered in Benue, even as they pay millions of naira as ransom.

“We can no longer do our businesses freely for fear of being kidnapped or murdered. Since January this year, we have had over 50 Igbo people kidnapped and some murdered in cold blood by bandits and suspected herdsmen,” he lamented.

Nnolim’s concerns were collaborated by another Igbo resident in Gboko, Ikechukwu Ndukaku, who stated that the area was becoming hot for the Igbo.

The fabrics merchant disclosed that all efforts to get security agencies and the state government to address the matter had fallen on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary, Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), Dr. Richard Ajiboye, has joined other concerned Nigerians to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to secure the lives of Nigerians.

Ajboye, who was represented by the Corporate Development Consultant, BSN, Victor Damilare, at the opening of a week-long Marathon Bible Reading organised by BSN at Presbyterian Church, Yaba, flayed the selection of the country’s security chiefs from one ethnic group.

He called on Buhari to distribute the security chiefs among the various ethnic groups for effective
security network and sense of belonging.

He told the president to be sincere enough to own up if he could not guarantee Nigerians’ safety.

Nigerian Guardian News