Ndi-Igbo residents in Abule-Ado, yesterday, called on the Federal Government to come to their aid against victimisation and intimidation by indigenes in the area.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Chairman Ndigbo Bina Abule-ado, Nwafuribe Chukwudiegwu, said the occurrences, which had been on before the 2023 general election, were intensified after the presidential election and the day of the governorship and House of Assembly polls.

The protestants carried placards with various inscription such as: ‘Some individuals in Abule-ado should leave Igbos alone, we are peaceful,’ ‘we want a country where equity and justice is watchword,’ It’s our rights to vote, we are peaceful people,’ No Igbo contested in the election, the votes are not Igbos… Why the attack, ‘the police should stop aiding violence, they are to protect, not kill’ and ‘we have been living together peacefully, until this election, why the fight?’

Chukwudiegwu explained that on Sunday, some people stormed their community and started beating people on the road, and shouting that Igbo people should go back to their towns.

He said: “On Sunday after service, some people stormed our community, I will call them Agberos and they were shouting ‘Igbo people should go, go to your town, we are the owners of Lagos.’ But you sold your land to people and they built on it and now you are telling them to go.

“We want the Federal and state governments to come to our aid because we are not safe here anymore. What is our crime? Is it buying land or paying for rent or doing our business? What exactly is our crime? Some people said maybe it’s because of political issues. All the people here cannot be in one party. In a competition, somebody must emerge as the winner. Nothing concerns us about politics, people have voted and whatever that comes out of it is final. Why are they attacking people?”

On his part, Chigozie Ngige lamented that the intimidation has been going on for a long time, this has been happening and it should stop. “I want the government to arrest and jail him,” he said.

Chairman, Oteyi Garden Estate in Abule-Ado, urged the government to investigate the matter and bring the culprits to book to avert future re-occurrence.

“Before the election, we have been having a series of threats from people who claimed to be Omo Onile , but it escalated a day to the governorship election. They invaded the community, harassing people and beating them. They created a lot of tension.

“On Election Day, they came out threatening voters, they were armed but at the end some people were able to vote.

After the election, the harassment continued, they were cutting people with machetes. It took the timely intervention of Trade Fair police and soldiers from the 411 Battalion to stop the crisis. If not for their timely intervention, a lot of damages would have been done to the community.

“A lot of people sustained injuries from this incident. We are calling on the government to come to our aid and investigate the matter and bring the culprits to book. We are Nigerians, we are not foreigners. Everyone has the right to own property without fear. The government should come to our aid to avert a reoccurrence.” (Text, excluding headline: The Guardian)

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