By Chuks Eke
Human rights activist and lawyer, Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor has charged Southeast governors to fully Implement and enforce Anti-Open Grazing Laws across the region with no more excuses.
He also charged the governors to form a united, non partisan front, leveraging both constitutional authority and community collaboration to
strengthen Local Vigilante networks within legal frameworks, that respect human rights but firmly secure our forests and farmlands, adding that efforts should be intensified to enhance Inter-Community Intelligence Sharing, ensuring early warning signals are acted upon swiftly.
In a press statement issued to newsmen, Ejiofor further the Southeast governors to hold the Federal Security Architecture accountable for their constitutional duties, while recognizing that grassroots security is our first line of defence.
According to Ejiofor, the governors should document and publicise all Incidents, engaging local and international human rights organizations to ensure they are aware of the creeping displacement, so no one feigns ignorance when history is being rewritten.
Insisting that Ala Igbo cannot and will not be surrendered,
he further declared: “The agricultural backbone of Ala-Igbo is collapsing under the weight of fear. Our mothers, fathers, and youths deserve the freedom to work on their lands without negotiating with terrorists”.
“The Igbo spirit is resilient, but now is the time to convert the resilience into decisive, coordinated action, let us protect our heritage, our dignity, and our future. The time to act is now”.
In the statement titled: “Ala-Igbo is under siege: The growing threat of armed herdsmen invasion and the urgent call for a united defensive front’ he noted that it is no longer news that Ala-Igbo, the ancestral homeland of the Igbo people, is under siege.
“What is deeply unsettling, however, is the deafening silence, the lukewarm responses, and the glaring reluctance by those entrusted with our security and well-being to address this existential threat with the urgency it demands”.
Across our forests, farmlands, and rural communities, there is a growing and alarming systematic occupation by heavily armed, violent herdsmen, predominantly of Fulani extraction, who have turned vast portions of our land into terror enclaves”.
“From Enugu to Ebonyi, from Anambra to Abia, and Imo State, chilling reports abound: killings, kidnappings, sexual violence, destruction of farms, and brazen extortion- targeted at our most vulnerable; farmers, women, and rural dwellers”.
Let me be clear: this is not mere speculation, nor a matter of rumor or hearsay. Just weeks ago, I received audio recording evidence and minutes from a distress meeting convened in Amansea near Awka, Anambra State, where our mothers, those who nurture the land and feed the region, were reduced to begging self-proclaimed “landlords”- foreign armed herders, occupying their ancestral farmlands, pleading for access to their own ancestral farmland”.
“The heartbreak run deeper when even indigenous Hausa residents, who have peacefully coexisted with us for generations, equally expressed palpable fear and frustration over the activities of these external, armed invaders, acknowledging they too have become captives within a land that once welcomed them”.
“This disturbing reality is not isolated to Amansea. Similar cries for help are rising from Uzo-Uwani, Isi-Uzo, EHA-Amufu, Ihiala , and many other communities across Ala-Igbo, where forests are forcefully occupied, farms abandoned, livelihoods destroyed, communities silenced under the threat of violence”.
“Let us not forget Ala-Igbo bears the scar of the painful genocide of the 1960s; we must never again allow history to repeat itself – not through weapons of war, nor through calculated neglect and inaction. We cannot afford another orchestrated annihilation in whatever form. Every South East Governor, as constitutionally empowered Chief Security Officer of their states must rise to this moment with courage and clarity”.
“We acknowledge commendable infrastructural development across some South -East states particularly in states where governance impact is visible. But let us be clear; no edifice, road, or market can thrive on scorched earth. Development without security is hollow, unsustainable, and ultimately meaningless”.
“The emboldened activities of these herdsmen are a direct consequence of failure -failure to enforce the anti-open grazing and land protection laws than many states have already passed. It is more so when efforts by indigenous people to checkmate the activities of these marauders, are being sabotaged. Multiple states in the South-East—including Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo—have passed anti-open grazing legislation modeled after the landmark Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment, yet, enforcement remains dismal, allowing invaders to grow in audacity and impunity”
Asking rhetorically how much longer shall we watch this time-bomb tick? He further declared: “Only recently, footage went viral showing herders grazing cattle within Owerri metropolis, the heart of Imo State’s capital – in outright violation of the law. Yet, no serious government or security reaction followed. Must we wait for an incident of the same scale—the bloody massacre of the indigenous people of Benue and Plateau—before we finally accept that Ala-Igbo is next?”
“We must take inspiration from the quite but firm community resistance in the South -West, where through local vigilance, state-backed frameworks, and community unity, have protected their lands from similar invasions. Their success shows us that lawful, organized community defence works, where backed with genuine resolve. All hands must be on deck to ensure the protection and safety of the entire Ala Igbo”.
