The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has condemned the Imo State government, led by Governor Hope Uzodinma, for its alleged destruction of settlements occupied by Northerners in the state.
Last week, Uzodinma ordered the demolition of shanties and makeshift structures along Owerri—Onitsha Road, across from Arugo Park.
The action was taken the Governor provided the occupants with financial assistance to relocate, following reports from various security agencies that the shanties were being used as hideouts for kidnappers in the state.
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In a statement titled “Response To The Unprovoked Evictions and Organised Violations Organized by Uzodinma against Northerners in Imo,” the CNG accused the Governor and other regional and ethnic agitators of engaging in hate campaigns and propaganda against Northerners.
Its spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, expressed utter perplexity and concern over the alleged official rampage on Northern settlements.
Furthermore, the CNG, representing various interest groups from Northern Nigeria extensively examined the orchestrated attacks on northern communities by the Imo State Governor.
The group’s statement read:
“We note how armed detachments of the Nigerian Army, the police, and assortments of armed thugs were unleashed by the Governor with clear orders to destroy, demolish, and burn every structure and asset belonging to the peaceful northern settlers of three communities from Thursday 27th to Friday 28th July 2023.
“The latest organised arson in Imo State left in its wake thousands of shops and houses; completely burnt, properties worth billions of Naira destroyed and looted, and thousands of northerners living and conducting legitimate businesses forcefully ejected, displaced, and deprived.
“The state-sponsored arsonists who arrived without prior notice, heavily armed with assorted arms including an Armoured Personal Carrier (APC), bodily saying that the “northerners should leave their land”, sacked Nakede Number One and then destroyed 1,300 shops and houses with the over 2,500 inhabitants displaced, dispossessed and run out of legitimate businesses.
“At Abu Junction Ama Hausa, the largest Northern settlement with a population of 4,000 settlers, the arsonists destroyed a total of 3,500 shops, and 1,500 houses forced 150 persons back to the North while rendering thousands of others homeless with no means of livelihood.
“Arungo Park, Onisha Road with a total population of over 3,000 was also attacked, completely sacked and the residents displaced.
“It is noteworthy that both Abu Junction and Nakede Number One which were sacked, have a history of 11 years of existence and Arugo Park six years.
“We emphatically repudiate the gangster action of Uzodinma and deem the targeting of the northerner communities in Imo for vilification, systematic dehumanization, profiling, alienation or any action that will render them the object of attack and persecution, not only immoral and illegal but also abhorrent to our sensibilities and ordinary decency and therefore unacceptable.
“We reiterate the call on Northerners living in Imo State and all unfriendly parts of the South-East to consider leaving the region for the sake of their lives and properties over policies pursued by the likes of Hope Uzodinma.
“The call on the Northerners to return to the North was borne out of the realisation that their lives had been put at risk due to the recent actions perpetrated in Imo on the orders of the state governor.
“It is also by worries about their well-being and the conviction that their safety can no longer be guaranteed and we would rather have them back in areas where their safety is guaranteed.
“The bottom line is that their safety is far more important than their stay there. This is a country we all wish to keep together but not at the expense of other sections.
“We call on the Federal Government to take immediate steps to disband all militias and armed groups in Imo and other parts of the South-East by resorting to the use of force if needs be, to ensure that no group can challenge the State in its prerogative to maintain law and order and protect citizens’ lives and properties.
“We call on the Inspector General of Police and the Nigerian Army Headquarters to interrogate the extent of involvement of their personnel in the commission of this dastardly act against peaceful everyday northerners in Imo State.
“We demand the establishment of a judicial inquiry that would be saddled with the responsibility of determining the quantum of loss of properties by northerners in the Imo attacks to pay compensation due to each of the victims.
“We warn Uzodimma and his ilk that the North shall no longer tolerate its people being profiled, attacked, and killed, their properties destroyed by officials of government and state-sponsored elements in the South-east with incidences of religious and ethnic profiling.
“We warn that while the North continues to support other Nigerians particularly the Igbo, to benefit from its tolerance and accommodation, it will also demand other Nigerians to note that the laws of the land demand that every Nigerian lives and earns his legitimate living in any part of Nigeria without discrimination or molestation.
“We warn the complacent section of the northern elite that their actions will not go unnoticed, and in the fullness of time, they will be held accountable to the extent of their docility and bankruptcy.”
