TheCable

The Ndi-Igbo Germany Inc, the umbrella association of all Igbo unions in Germany, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of supporting the “renewed genocide” ongoing in the south-east.

In a statement issued on Monday, Peter Eze, its co-ordinator, faulted the president’s silence on the military “intimidation” in the region.

The group called for the “immediate and unequivocal” withdrawal of all the troops — involved in Operation Python Dance.

It also allayed fears of a possible breakdown of law and order due to the “uncontrollable angry reactions” by a provoked civilian population in the region over the “state-sponsored destruction”.

“We observe with horror the body language and actions of the fully armed military of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which suggest that it is preparing to use this deliberately provoked chaos in the south-east as a deceitful mock-excuse to launch a full-scale, scorched earth, genocidal offensive against the civilian population of mainly Igbo ethnicity in south-eastern Nigeria,” the statement read.

“We call for the immediate redeployment of all heavily armed and equipped troops, which were transferred en masse in the last weeks and days into the southeastern territory, thus sparking widespread panic and angst in the hitherto peaceful Igbo civilian population, and for an immediate cessation in the further militarisation of the Igbo territory;

“We demand that the federal government explain the exact nature of and reason behind the presently ongoing military aggression in civilian territory under the macabre name ‘Dance of the Python, part 2’ and that they situate and justify this within the legal ambit of the Nigerian constitution;

“We demand that all persons, both in and out of the military, who have been responsible either in the chain of command, decisionmaking, aiding and abetting, and/or execution of the killings, beatings and acts of humiliation meted out onto the civilian population in the course of this military invasion be brought to swift and commensurate justice, and the federal government take responsibility for the victims and their families;

“We insist that President Muhammadu Buhari speak directly to the nation, swiftly and urgently, on the issue of this state-militarised conflict and make clear his position.

“We declare that the one-sided selection of mainly the Igbo parts of the south-eastern region of Nigeria for this military invasion strongly suggests a renewed and reinvigorated genocidal volition, already in the early stages of its execution, towards the ethnic cleansing or pacification of the Igbos, as was already once meted out by the Nigerian army towards the Igbos of Biafra in the 1967-70 civil war.”

The association further said any move to declare a state of emergency in the region by the federal government would amount to a “deliberately planned and orchestrated ploy to provoke, occupy, and conquer the Igbo nation – something which we will not and never accept.”

It urged the International Criminal Court of Justice to investigate the “dictatorial and undemocratic use of Nigeria’s military against the Igbo and any other affected citizens and communities of Nigeria.”