Igbos in the Diaspora, specifically the USA, have stormed courts in that country, as well as the World Court (International Court) at The Hague, over the menace of killer herdsmen in Igbo land, South-East Nigeria.

Nwachukwu Anakwenze, a renowned American-trained physician and President of World Igbo Assembly, an umbrella body coordinating Igbo activities in the Diaspora, disclosed this in an interview with Saturday Vanguard.

He said in the interview published today: “In the past we had peace and tranquility in Nigeria, but things have changed with stories of herdsmen invading our villages, killing people, destroying crops and raping our women, something we cannot tolerate. We are very concerned about that because the well- being of our people is involved. We will no longer accept this condition and we are going to talk to our people on what to do.

“Everybody needs to prepare to defend himself and his family against the menacing herdsmen because we are not prepared to cede an inch of any Igbo land to anybody. Our people must protect their crops always. If any animal comes to eat the crops, it means hunger will be in the land because that is what the people use after harvesting and sales to train their children.

“These animals must be killed if they invade the farms and destroy the crops. If the cows come and eat our food, we will eat the cows. If the herders kill our people and destroy our things, we have the right to reciprocate. We want peace for us and for everybody, but if somebody comes to fight us on our land, we will fight back.”

Below is an excerpt from the interview:

Are you satisfied with the way the governors in the South East are approaching this issue of herdsmen?

So far the governors have said they won’t give out our land and we are satisfied with that. We don’t have any land in the first place. Our states have the smallest land mass in Nigeria and therefore we don’t have any to give. What should be done is to have ranches in the South and RUGA in the North and then we will be happy to sell the food the cows need to them. They have a lot of land in the North and they don’t need it in the South.

Have the Igbo in Diaspora articulated any plan on how to handle this delicate matter?

We are already in court in the USA to fight for our human rights. Some have even gone to the International Court at The Hague. This is human right abuse because we are not killing anybody. We cannot just watch and allow our women and children to be raped. We are suing against genocide because that is what it is.

Who are the defendants in the suit?

All the parties involved are the defendants, including the herdsmen and those sponsoring them. What we are doing has nothing to do with what IPOB is doing. In fact there are many law suits on this matter in America and in Europe.

Update news