The Indigenous Igbo Women Assembly (IWA) has called on Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, to shift military focus from peaceful protesters to armed herdsmen terrorising rural communities across the South East.
The women made their statement in reaction to the recent warning by the CDS, who cautioned against promoting the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate, the Eastern Security Network, especially through social media.
General Musa, represented by Group Captain Ibrahim Bukar during a recent security event in Anambra State, had said that spreading unverified information supports IPOB’s activities, which he described as harmful to national peace and unity.
But IWA, led by its National President, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, sharply disagreed with the military chief. In a statement released to journalists in Umuahia, the group insisted that IPOB is not a terrorist organisation but a non-violent group fighting for the rights and recognition of the Igbo people.
“We want to remind Gen. Musa that IPOB members are not terrorists but our children who are protesting the ill-treatment and marginalisation of the South East from the scheme of things in Nigeria,” the statement read.
The group blamed the persistent unrest in the region not on IPOB but on armed herdsmen who they said continue to attack and kill farmers, displace villagers, and rape women and girls. According to them, if the military truly wants peace, troops should be deployed into the forests to confront these violent elements, not to harass peaceful citizens.
They also questioned what they see as a double standard by the federal government. “Why is the federal government killing IPOB members but granting amnesty to bandits and mass murderers…?” the women asked. They noted that while armed herdsmen move freely with rifles in the region, young IPOB members are locked up for merely protesting.
IWA traced the roots of the growing tension in the South East to the military’s “Python Dance” operation launched under former President Muhammadu Buhari, claiming the region was peaceful before the operation began. They said the killing and arrests of IPOB members worsened after the controversial arrest of the group’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and the military crackdowns during peaceful protests.
The statement also expressed concern over the migration of Igbo youths from the region, allegedly due to constant harassment at military checkpoints and general insecurity. The women said this has weakened the region’s ability to defend itself against what they described as an ongoing invasion by strange elements from outside the region.
“There is an invasion of the South East by strange faces doing all sorts of menial jobs and surveying our land… In some villages, some of these jobless wanderers outnumber the owners of the land,” the group said, warning that their presence poses a serious threat.
Finally, IWA called for the immediate removal of military checkpoints across the region, saying they have become tools for extortion and harassment, and urged the federal government to engage IPOB in honest dialogue instead of military action.
