The Southeast National Assembly Caucus has condemned the continued ethnic profiling of Igbo over the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests across the country.
A statement signed by the southeast leaders of both chambers of the National Assembly, Senator Enyinaya Abaribe and Rt. Hon Igariwey Iduma Enwo further described as unfortunate and dangerous such ethnic profiling in the ongoing mass protests across the country, saying the Igbo cannot be held responsible for a protest they neither initiated nor completely supported or participated in.
“For the records, the Igbo nation, in obedience to the advice of their leaders, Governors, Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, parliamentarians and others in the private sector had taken a reasoned and strategic decision not to participate in the on-going nationwide protests,” the statement emphasized, adding that this was evident in the relative calm experienced in the five Southeastern states.
“We are, therefore, surprised and disappointed, that Igbos are still made scapegoats, and targeted as instigators of protests, as shown in several statements (such as the Igbo Must Go hashtag and call by a certain ‘Lagospedia’ X(Twitter) handle) and videos trending online.
“This dangerous ethnic profiling is unwarranted, and must stop. It was such profiling that led to the millions of deaths in Nigeria from the 1950’s to the unfortunate civil war in 1967 to 1970. Elsewhere in Africa it led to the genocide in Rwanda and the xenophobia in South Africa.
“We demand that the security agencies bring to book the purveyors of this hate speeches in line with the cybercrimes act
while we continue to appeal to Igbos across the country to stay away from the protests, and remain law abiding.”
