The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has condemned Tuesday’s attack on the newly constructed Abia cattle market in Omumauzor in the Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State by unknown gunmen.
Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, spokesman for the CNG, in a statement on Wednesday, accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) of being behind the attack.
He urged the state government to bring the culprits to justice, warning that the region would no longer tolerate unwarranted attacks on northerners in the South-East or any other part of the country.
“The recent attack in Abia has taken matters to a point whereby silence has become complicity and inaction is no longer an option in the face of unprovoked evictions, attacks and killing of northerners in various parts of the South-East,” the statement reads.
“As a first step, we demand that the Abia state and the federal government must act quickly to arrest these criminals and expose their supporters within two weeks from today.
“We also demand an immediate and comprehensive assessment of casualties and extent of damage inflicted on the innocent northerners and appropriate compensation made to the victims.”
The group added, “We remind the ESN, the IPOB and their sponsors that they do not have a monopoly of rascality and violence and that the patience of the North has reached its nadir and we are no longer prepared to turn the other cheek.
“We warn that the North will no longer tolerate any further irrelevant treatment of northerners resulting from the hate campaigns and propaganda being conducted by regional and ethnic agitators, aimed mainly at instigating reprisals by northerners against people from other parts of the country.
“We are quite aware that the perpetrators of this relentless violence pursuing this agenda of destruction and collective mayhem, fervently hope it will engulf the entire country and bring about another civil war and mass killings and suffering of innocent people.”
