In Awka the Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Monday, condemned the role played by the Nigeria Police in aiding the recent deportation of some Igbos from Lagos on the order of the state government.
According to reports in the Vanguard newspaper, Anambra State president of Ohanaeze, Elder Chris Eluemunoh, at a news conference in Awka, also faulted the explanation by the Lagos State Government on the matter, arguing that the deportation was an inhuman act aimed at insulting and embarrassing the Igbo race.
He said: “Ohanaeze must not fail to condemn the role of the Nigeria Police, who escorted the vehicle that brought the deportees down to Onitsha from Lagos. What a travesty of justice that security agents, who are paid from public fund to protect the rights of citizens were used to perpetuate the violation of the constitution they all swore to defend and protect.
“We urge the Inspector General of Police, IG, to investigate the role of his men in the despicable and illegal action of the Lagos State Government. Ohanaeze also totally rejects the explanations by the Lagos State Government in defence of her action and we ask whether the dumping and abandoning them under the bridge at Onitsha at midnight was the best way to return them to their homes for proper integration.
“Ndigbo and the people of Anambra State in particular rightly deserve an unreserved apology from the Lagos State Government, else it would be taken that her action was a calculated insult aimed at creating unnecessary friction between the Yoruba and Igbo, who have been living and working peacefully in Lagos for decades and contributing immensely to the development of the state.”
The organisation also faulted those blaming Governor Peter Obi for letting the president know about the development, noting that the governor’s action was a mature way of handling the vexatious action.
According to Eluemunoh, “Ohanaeze supports all the steps the governor had so far taken to seek redress for the degrading treatment meted out to Ndigbo, even as he appealed to Igbo people to remain calm and law-abiding.”
