The General Assembly of all Igbo Christian Organizations and Ministers (GAAICOM) have tasked President Goodluck Jonathan to do enough to protect Igbos in the North from Boko Haram attacks or they will mandate their members to bear arms and defend themselves against unprovoked attacks. This formed part of the resolution of the emergency Patriarch Ecclesia meeting of the body held yesterday at Enugu to access the cumulative extent of damage of Boko Haram attacks to Igbo interests. The group frowned at the selective extermination of Igbos as occasioned by the recent Kano Bus Station Bombings where over 100 lives were lost, describing it as an act of provocation capable of signaling the beginning of another civil war if the situation is not urgently arrested. GAAICOM has set up a three man committee led by the organizations Director of Media and Communications, Rev Obinna Akukwe, to embark on a fact finding tour of Kano and ascertain the level of preparedness of the Igbos to defend them, warning that further provocations could be termed as an act of war.
In the same vein the former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife has called for the establishment of a special vigilante group to protect Igbo interests in the north. In a message he sent to GAAICOM Secretariat during the meeting, which was deliberated upon and adopted, Ezeife advocated that ‘’ Igbo communities should demand new security approach, the President, Governors, Police, Army, and other security agencies, should now clearly understand and fully accept the compelling need for the Igbos to be in a position to defend themselves anywhere they are together in large numbers’’. According to the former governor, ‘’Igbos should acquire whatever they need for group self defense. It must be clear that whatever they acquire for defense must not be put to offensive use. The practical way to implement this is the creation of Special Vigilante or Security Groups which are adequately equipped to prevent attacks and deal with attacks they cannot prevent. The government should supply Igbo security units what they demand for self defense.’’
GAAICOM is looking into the workability of former Governor Ezeife’s submission on special vigilante groups and that of other prominent opinion leaders in Igbo land and will soon take definite stand on all outstanding issues during the pre- convention meeting.
