Our Reporter, Abuja
Igbo interest group, Oganihū, has raised the alarm over the escalating violence and insecurity in the South-East, attributing much of the crisis to the unchecked activities of armed herders and the apparent failure of government to protect lives and property in the region.
In a strongly worded press statement released on Thursday, the group expressed outrage over the “grand plan” by armed herders and their sponsors to displace indigenous landowners through sustained killings and destruction of farmlands across Igboland.
“There is no state in the South-East where these herders don’t march their animals on the farms, streets and roads with impunity.
“Communities have been attacked with impunity, and scores massacred, yet our security agencies seem to have no effective response,” the group lamented.
Oganihū accused both the Federal Government and South-East state governments of indifference, pointing to the consistent silence and lack of official investigations into the attacks.
“It is unnerving that despite numerous community invasions, there has been no meaningful response from security agencies or even basic acknowledgment from government officials,” the group stated.
Raising critical questions, the group challenged Nigeria’s intelligence services and state actors on their apparent inability to detect and forestall such brazen attacks. “Why are national intelligence networks failing to track and disrupt this organized armed violence? What exactly are our governors doing beyond rhetoric?”
It issued a firm declaration that the violence and destruction of livelihoods “must cease forthwith” and outlined a series of demands to curb the ongoing crisis.
Their demands include: Immediate action by governments at all levels to fulfill their constitutional responsibility of protecting citizens and ensuring public safety in the South-East.
Disarmament of all armed herders, whom the group described as a “deadly and destructive malaise,” and a demand that herders only rear animals on lawfully acquired land.
Community-based action urging towns and villages across Igboland to collaborate with local security groups to protect their lands and disarm illegal armed elements.
Unified and decisive action by South-East governors to move beyond rhetoric and adopt proactive security, legal, and administrative measures to protect the region.
Oganihū further emphasized that Igbos, like all Nigerians, are law-abiding wherever they reside, and expect the same respect for land rights and communal peace from others living in or transacting in the region.
The statement was jointly signed by 16 notable members, including lawyers, academics, civil society leaders and public intellectuals, such as Obinali S. Duru, Esq; Dr. Sam Amadi; Prof. Chijioke Uwasomba; Professor Amanze Akpuda; and Dr. Chido Onumah, among others.
As insecurity continues to affect farming and rural livelihoods in the region, Oganihū’s intervention underscores growing frustration among stakeholders over perceived governmental inertia and rising communal tensions.
The group concluded with a warning that of Ala Igbo “will no longer tolerate the wanton destruction of their lands and lives,” vowing to pursue legal and communal means to safeguard their ancestral heritage.
Below is the full text of the press statement.
July 17, 2025
Press Release
Insecurity and Armed Herders’ Destructiveness in the South East.
Oganihū is a non-partisan Igbo interest group dedicated to the safety of all citizens/humanity and the development of Ala Igbo.
We are witnesses to the violence that has crippled the South-East for sometime now, particularly in the last couple of years, much of it by nefarious actors and orchestrated by government ineptitude or passive indulgences.
A notoriously deadly strand of this violence in Igboland is the grand plan by armed herders and their sponsors to ostensibly supplant the indigenous/subsisting landowners by killings and destruction of farm crops. There is no state in the South East where these herders don’t march their animals on the farms, streets and roads with impunity.
In almost all of these cases, there have been no official statements from state governments in the South East or the Federal Government. No explanation. No accountability. No investigation.
More unnerving is a serious lack of sincerity in examining the armed herders destructiveness in numerous communities in the South East, which would have entailed a critical examination of fundamental questions about its existence, the beneficiaries, main actors and potential solutions.
Rather what we have continued to witness is the increasing and indiscriminate violence against host communities. Communities have been attacked with impunity, and scores massacred, yet our security agencies seem to have no effective response. Apparently, Nigeria’s security agencies appear overwhelmed or indifferent.
Yet we must ask: Why are the national intelligence networks failing to detect, track and disrupt such brazen armed illegality and violence? What are our state governments doing beyond lip service to protect their people? At what point would legal and operational military authority spring forth to safeguard citizens against this organized and audacious violence.Why has no one in government acknowledged — let alone condemned — the deaths of unarmed civilians in the hands of armed herders?
Against the backdrop of this horrific cascading violence, we must state resolutely that this spectre of violence against our people and the destruction of their livelihood must cease forthwith and will no longer be tolerated. In this vein, we hereby make these demands and requests as follows:
1. The Federal Government and the various state and local governments in Igboland should live up to their primary responsibility to defend and safeguard the security and safety of their citizens without further delay. This is a basic function of government, a social contract between it and the people that is recognized universally.
2. We demand that the armed herders who are clearly a deadly and destructive malaise in our communities must disarm immediately because of its illegality and must only rear their animals in their own purchased land which is the only legal thing to do. Our communities cannot tolerate any further the killings, harassment and farm destruction perpetrated by these armed strangers in our land. Note that we are also strangers across every nook and cranny of Nigeria, but we do not go about trespassing on the lands of those communities nor engage in the destruction of their farmlands.
3. We call on all communities in Igboland to brace up and work with all governmental authorities and their vigilance groups to disarm any armed herders in their communities. This is the law of the land and the policy of the government. They should never again tolerate the wanton trespassing and destruction of their farmlands. Obviously, communities are within their rights to play host to only strangers that want to live and conduct their businesses according to the general laws of the Nigerian state.
4. The governors of the South East must unite to take proactive actions in this regard like responsive and responsible regional leaders. We call on them to go beyond mere rhetoric, buckle up and employ every security, legal and administrative measures to secure Ala Igbo and the safety of every citizen/humanity within.
Signed:
1) Obinali S. Duru, Esq
2) Karl Chinedu Uchegbu
3) Dr. Chido Onumah
4) Edmund Onyiriogwu
5) Prof.ChijiokeUwasomba
6) Uzodinma Nwaogbe
7) Earl Okezie
8) Dr. Sam Amadi
9) Dr.Christian Onyegbule
10) Prof. Amanze Akpuda
11) Anayo Uwabuike, Esq
12) Styvn Obodoekwe
13) Zulu Ofolue
14) Chika Igbokwe, Esq
15) Paschal Oziri
16) Eric Orji, Esq
