Mr. Chibuike Okafor, Anambra-based cattle dealer who lost over 50 cows in an in the state, has said most of cows in the South-East are owned by Igbo businessmen.

Okafor made the disclosure when he met the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Solo Chukwulobelu, on Tuesday.

He said over 50 of his cows were set ablaze by an angry mob at Kwata junction, Awka, Anambra State.

Okafor said it was wrong for the hoodlums to believe that all the cows coming to the South-East from the north belong to Northerners and must be destroyed, with little or no provocation.

“Your Excellency, I would want to tell you that almost all, if not all the cows you see in the South-East are owned by Igbo traders. What happens is that if we go there to buy the cows, we use the vehicles owned by the Northerners to bring them down here. Even some of us have our vehicles for the transportation of these cows to south east.”

“We’ve had a long-time cordial relationship with them in this business. It will be wrong for our people to have wrong impression about the Northerners. They are good people generally speaking, especially in business” he said.

Responding, the Secretary to the State Government assured the protection of every Nigerian in the state.

“We understand that our people hae been in a long-time cordial joint business partnership with the north in this trade and we must not destroy this relation built over the years ” he said.

He assured that he would take back all the information he had gathered to Governor Willie Obiano for appropriate action.

The meeting held after an angry mob set ablaze a truck transporting cattle from the north to the southeast.

The mob went wild after the truck killed eight persons in an accident. *Credit: Daily Trust