Abia Shallow Grave: Igbo-Intelligentsia Forum Writes Buhari

The Igbo-Intelligentsia Forum, a professional and advocacy
Igbo group, has written an open letter to President
Muhammadu Buhari expressing strong concerns over the
recent statement of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) that
it discovered a mass grave in Abia State and that it has
identified five of the bodies as Fulani.

The DSS also went ahead to say that the Fulani bodies were
corpses of those purportedly murdered by members of the
Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), a claim which the Forum
described as reckless and shameful propaganda.
The Forum in the letter signed by Hon Joe Ikunna
(Coordinator) and Dr Katch Ononuju (Secretary of Publicity Sub-
Committee) went ahead to debunk such claims saying “that the
five bodies found in a shallow grave in a bush in Uturu town
were actually kidnap victims and that the unfortunate incident
has no ethnic coloration whatsoever”. It came to this
conclusion after an on-the-spot assessment carried out by the
Abia and Imo States governments.

The Forum also went ahead to declare that “We are alarmed
by these allegations as we do not condone violence of any
sort by or against any person or group of persons. Our history
as Igbo shows that we have lived peacefully with people of
different ethnicity for generations”. It further stated that “The
DSS news statement is tendentious. It is un-nerving for those
serving in our security services to turn around and stoke a
conflagration with capacity to cause ethnic massacre of a
segment of the country namely, the Igbo nation”.

It wondered why the DSS is so pre-occupied with the Igbo
when no action has been taken on arms bearing Fulani
herdsmen who are widely known to visit mayhem on their host
communities without provocation.
Consequently, the Forum called on president Muhammadu
Buhari to set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to
investigate the unfortunate statement by the DSS, the spread
of Fulani herdsmen clashes with agrarian communities and
demanded that the National Security Adviser and the DG of
DSS be sanctioned accordingly while a public apology be
tendered to the Igbo for the heist statement targeted at them
and work towards the immediate disarming of all militia groups
in the country including the Fulani herdsmen.

It concluded its letter by advising the president not to allow the
business interests of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association
of Nigeria (MACBAN), a trade association with membership in
the civil service, politics and other Fulani investors clash
against and undermine national security & corporate well-being
of Nigeria.