The Indigenous Igbo Women Assembly (IWA) has called on the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, to redirect military focus towards confronting armed herdsmen in the South East, rather than targeting members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Their appeal came in response to recent comments made by General Musa, represented by Group Captain Ibrahim Bukar, during a community engagement in Anambra State. The CDS had cautioned against supporting IPOB and its security wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), particularly through the spread of unverified information on social media. He argued that IPOB’s activities posed a danger to both regional stability and national unity.
In a strongly worded statement released in Umuahia on Sunday, IWA National President, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, challenged the CDS’s stance. According to her, IPOB is not a terrorist organization but a peaceful movement pushing back against decades of marginalization and exclusion of the South East from national affairs.
“We want to remind Gen. Musa that IPOB members are not terrorists but our children who are protesting the ill-treatment and marginalisation of the South East from the scheme of things in Nigeria,” Chimezie stated. She pointed to what she described as historical political exclusion, including the fact that no Igbo person has held the presidency since the assassination of General Aguiyi-Ironsi in 1966.
Chimezie also criticized disparities in political appointments and career advancement, especially in the security forces, which she said discouraged Igbo youths from enlisting in the military and police. “They have refused to join the military and even the police because they hardly get promoted like their colleagues from other tribes,” she said.
The group also questioned what they described as selective justice in Nigeria’s security operations. “Why is the federal government killing IPOB members but granting amnesty to bandits and mass murderers who have not stopped killing innocent citizens, including security agents?” the group asked.
They further condemned what they see as double standards in the treatment of peaceful protesters and armed criminals. “Fulani herdsmen do not need AK-47s in the South East because there has never been any incident of cattle rustling in the region,” the statement noted. “For them to carry AK-47s about, shooting people, shows they have an evil agenda.”
IWA urged General Musa to encourage the federal government to initiate dialogue with IPOB and address the group’s grievances rather than continue what they called a propaganda campaign. They argued that true peace in the region could only come through meaningful engagement with aggrieved youth and a crackdown on armed herders operating in rural communities.
Referencing the military operation Python Dance, the group claimed the security situation in the region only worsened following its deployment. “Before the military presence initiated by former President Muhammadu Buhari, the South East was the most peaceful region in Nigeria,” the statement said.
They also criticized the abduction and detention of IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, linking it to increased unrest and the rise of the sit-at-home protest culture. “During peaceful rallies and prayer sessions in cities like Port Harcourt, Aba, and Onitsha, many of our youths were killed,” they added.
The statement concluded with concern over rising migration by South East youths, attributing it to routine harassment at security checkpoints and a perceived strategy to depopulate the region’s youth ahead of feared religious conflict. “What the security agents are doing is to systematically chase our youths away so that we will not have those to defend us when the rumoured jihad eventually starts,” the statement warned.
