The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has warned the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) against attacking any Igbo living in the northern part of the country.
IPOB said the warning was instigated by a statement made by MACBAN, South-East chapter over the recent refusal of the South-East Governors’ Forum to surrender their land for cattle ranching.
MACBAN had frowned at the refusal to release land in the Igbo region to herdsmen, describing the move as shocking.
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But in a statement issued by its media and publicity secretary, Mr Emma Powerful, IPOB said MACBAN statement allegedly contained a subtle threat of attack, adding that the group was ‘speaking the minds of the northern caliphate which the group has come to represent since the coming of the present administration’.
“The arrogant tone of their (MACBAN’s) statement and implied threat contained therein, against Igbo lives and businesses in the north, points clearly to an impending hostile response from them, which IPOB is both duty and honour bound not to ignore,” Powerful said.
“We must make it abundantly clear that any attack against Igbo lives and businesses in the north, will be met with commensurate response in the south. Threats and large scale invasions of territories in the Middle-Belt may have had the effect of subduing indigenous Tiv resistance to the Fulani hegemonic juggernaut in the Middle Belt.
“The sensible decision of hitherto docile South-East Governors to avoid wholesale breakdown of law and order in their region, through the banning of herdsmen activities, should be applauded by Arewa Consultative Forum, Sokoto Caliphate and all advocates of peaceful coexistence in Nigeria, not derided through the mouthpiece of Fulani terrorists the MACBAN,” he added.