This Day reports that the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) on Tuesday, March 29, issued a 72-hour ultimatum to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and free 76 people from Ugwuneshi in Awgu local government area of Enugu state, who defended their property and women against the Fulani herdsmen. The group also demanded the immediate release of two women who were allegedly abducted by the herdsmen on their way to their farms. The ultimatum was contained in a statement made by Emma Nmezu and Clifford Iroanya, the spokespersons of IPOB.
“Accordingly, the IPOB is hereby giving President Buhari 72 hours beginning from 6p.m, on March 29, 2016, to release the 76 youths of Ugwuneshi community, Awgu, together with the two women earlier abducted by the Fulani fighters. The Fulani flags flying over our ancestral land must also be removed within the same period,” the group stated.
The pro-Biafra group warned that if the president fails to heed its call, “the world will witness the first true feel of the anger of IPOB worldwide.” According to the group, “the brutal show of power” and bravado by Fulani herdsmen in the area cannot be accepted by any civilized society and must be stopped.
“First, the ever recalcitrant Fulani marauders abducted two women on their way to the farm. All entreaties to release the two women fell on deaf ears. The youths of the community mobilized to free their women, but the Fulani warriors informed their kinsmen at the military bases in the neigbouring Abia state.
“The soldiers stormed the community, beat up and arrested all 76 youths, bundled them to zone 9, ordered them charged and remanded in prison without allowing them to make statements. As at today, the 76 youths remain locked up, the two women remain missing as Fulani supremacy reigns supreme,” the group lamented.
Expressing its readiness to confront the menace of the herdsmen, IPOB noted that it was not going to make any appeals as matters have already gotten out of hand.
“The era of consistently begging a mindless but determined enemy has suddenly come to an end. It is fire for fire. It is our generational duty to defend our honour as a people or be damned forever,” it said.
Earlier this week, IPOB warned President Buhari that its members would reignite the wave of protests in the south-east and parts of south-south zones. The group said it had endured enough waiting for the federal government to release its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who was arrested in 2015.