South-East elders under the aegis of the Coalition of Igbo Unions have called on Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, to apologise and rescind his alleged plan to evict northern cattle traders from the state.
The appeal is coming barely one week after about 70 decomposing bodies and skeletons were discovered near the Abia Cattle Market, Lokpanta, in the Umuchieze area.
While calling for dialogue, the Igbo stakeholders warned that any attempt to forcefully eject the traders from their region could snowball into a crisis that will inevitably affect Igbo businesses in the North.
Otti, who announced the weird discovery at his Sunday’s media briefing, also expressed concern over the state of insecurity, saying the market had become a den for criminals and kidnappers.
The governor also defended his action, saying his resolve to protect the cattle market and its host community was not targeted at any particular tribe as being misinterpreted to mean an eviction of northerners trading in the market.
Many northerners, who are predominantly dealers in cattle, had appealed to the governor to allow them to continue squatting inside the market.
The spokesperson for the northern traders’ community, Buba Abdullahi, on Thursday at a press conference, also expressed their anger over the government’s position, saying it was a subtle directive to evict them from the state.
Reacting via a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the Coalition of Igbo Unions asked Otti to retract his alleged ‘ethnically-motivated’ utterances and apologise to the northern traders.
The statement was jointly signed Chairman of the Coalition of Igbo Unions, Obinna Okoroafor; Secretary, Udoka Onwuka and Public Relations Officer, Maduabuchi Madu.
While stating the governor’s speech has created a tensed atmosphere, the coalition also demanded an alternative to be provided for ‘our northern brothers’ in place of the indiscriminate demolition of shops and residential homes in the area.
The statement partly read, “While we acknowledge the importance of security of lives and property of Nigerians living in every part of the country, we strongly condemn and dissociate ourselves from the ethnic profiling being perpetrated by Governor Alex Otti against our brothers from northern Nigeria doing business at the Umunneochi Cattle Market.
“This is because the thoughtless move by Alex Otti to forcefully eject the northern businesses at the cattle market will have a boomerang effect on Igbo traders in the North and across Nigeria.
“We have carefully observed that the ‘vacate-the-cattle-market’ ultimatum issued by the governor has greatly increased the already tensed socio-political atmosphere in the country.
“The plight of northern traders in the cattle market if not handled satisfactorily will set a dangerous precedent which will ignite violence and clashes in various parts of Nigeria against the Igbo.
“We, therefore, wish to distance ourselves from the reckless utterances and thoughtless actions of Otti whom we believe is playing to the gallery for political gains.”
“To ensure stability and peace, we are giving Mr Alex Otti, 48 hours to immediately rescind his ethnically motivated outbursts and apologize to the northern traders who have cohabited peacefully with their host communities hitherto.”
