Northern Group Says IPOB Responsible For Attack On Abia Cattle Market

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has condemned Wednesday morning attack on the newly constructed Abia Cattle Market at Omumauzor in the Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State.

The CNG, in a statement signed by it spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) of being behind the attack.

The group charged the state government to expedite action in bring the culprits to justice.

It further warned that the region would no longer tolerate unwarranted attacks on northerners in Abia State and the entire South-East region or any other part of the country.

Part of the statement reads:

“The recent attack in Abia has taken matters to a point whereby silence has become complicity and inaction is no longer an option in the face of unprovoked evictions, attacks and killing of northerners in various parts of the South-East.

“As a first step, we demand that the Abia state and the federal government must act quickly to arrest these criminals and expose their supporters within two weeks from today.

“We also demand an immediate and comprehensive assessment of casualties and extent of damage inflicted on the innocent northerners and appropriate compensation made to the victims.”

The group added that “We remind the ESN, the IPOB and their sponsors that they do not have a monopoly of rascality and violence and that the patience of the North has reached its peak and we are no longer prepared to turn the other cheek.

“We warn that the North will no longer tolerate any further irreverent treatment of northerners resulting from the hate campaigns and propaganda being conducted by regional and ethnic agitators, aimed mainly at instigating reprisals by northerners against people from other parts of the country.

“We are quite aware that the perpetrators of this relentless violence pursuing this agenda of destruction and collective mayhem, fervently hope it will engulf the entire country and bring about another civil war and mass killings and suffering of innocent people”.

THE WHISTLER reported on Wednesday that unknown gunmen killed not less than seven persons during an invasion of the newly constructed cattle market.

The invaders also reportedly slaughtered about 70 cows and destroyed other properties at the market.
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