The lead counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, on Sunday condemned the beheading of a member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Okechukwu Okoye, by his abductors with a call on Ndigbo to secure their region and reclaim their identity.
While warning that “enough is enough”, he said the perpetrators of the killings in the South East were enemies who “have boldly infiltrated our land and now operating unchecked.”
Ejiofor in a statement titled, ‘Strangers in our land’, said his client and leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, would be gravely shocked and saddened by the beheading of Anambra lawmaker, having previously and severally mandated him in the past to condemn such barbaric act on his behalf.
The statement reads, “Dear Igbos of goodwill – home and abroad – our land is under siege by blood-sucking demons. It is no longer in doubt that the insecurity rocking the South-East region has taken an entirely troubling dimension and can not be allowed to continue.
“Yesterday (Saturday), being May 21 2022, I was inundated with the most unbelievable news making rounds, of the gruesome torture and subsequent beheading of one Okechukwu Okoye and his co-traveller in Anambra State by their abductors.
“I was totally shattered and in disbelief! I kept making calls until late into the night to ascertain its authenticity, and very sadly, this has been confirmed as true.
“This is the latest in a spree of mindless and barbaric killings that have been going on in the Sout-East in recent times.
“We, Igbos have been known for our hospitality, love and open door policy to all and sundry. We take pride in being industrious by making something out of nothing wherever we find ourselves on this planet earth.
“May I assure you all at this point in time, that my indefatigable client, Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, will be gravely shocked, and saddened by this dastardly act too, having previously and severally mandated me in the past to condemn such barbaric act on his behalf.
“No doubt, our enemies have boldly infiltrated our land and now operating unchecked. Hence, there must be an immediate stop to these dastardly acts by these blood sucking demons currently desecrating our land.
“We, therefore, call on every well-meaning person living in the South-East, to join hands together to provide relevant information that would help to fish out these marauders, so that they are publicly dealt with in line with the dictates of the law.
“It is the collective responsibility of everyone to rise up to this challenge. This is not in our culture, and certainly not our style. The time is now!!!
“There is no doubt whatsoever, that criminals are on a rampage. These monsters that kidnap for ransoms have no connection whatsoever with the freedom fighting movement. They are impostors and hirelings whose singular objective is to kill and destroy in a calculated attempt to demonise IPOB.
“Very compelling to mention in this piece too, for the purposes of a well guided and wholistic solution, that only a few weeks ago, a prominent Anambrarian gave a gory account of how he was kidnapped by the monsters he described as Fulani herdsmen. Ransom was paid before he was freed.
“Just a few days back also, an audio recording of a call made to a relative of a kidnapped victim in the kidnappers’ den right inside Anambra State went viral. The disjointed English accent of the culprits spoke volumes of which divide of the country the kidnappers came from.
“The public is yet to be informed as to whether these victims are lucky to be freed on ransom of N10 million demanded by the monsters, or killed as threatened.
“I therefore strongly condemn in unmistaken terms, this dastardly act in its entirety, and consequently call on security agencies, and every Anambrabrian, to unite towards defending our land from these monsters desecrating it, these criminal elements, regardless of their ethnic affiliations, must be crushed. We must free our land from them. The hour is here! My heart indeed bleeds!
“We must secure our region and reclaim our identity, which our forefathers toiled so hard to build for us. Enough is enough!
“We must all join hands together to ensure that peace and order are restored to the South-East region, as a matter of urgency.
May God deliver our land.”
