The Alaigbo Development Foundation(ADF) says it is horrified by the cold-blooded killing in broad daylight of Igbo trader on Tuesday, 13th July, 2021 by military officers at the Ladipo Market in Lagos.
A soldier identified as Alhaji said to be serving in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, but is from Benue, had led his colleagues to open fire at Aguiyi Ironsi Plaza in Ladipo, after a disagreement with a trader identified as Uche over supply of vehicle spare parts. The incident led to the killing of a trader identified as Felix Nnana, while others sustained bullet wounds.
Three of the injured are said to be be in critical condition.
Condemning the action in a statement by its spokesman, Abia Onyike on Saturday, ADF asked the Nigerian government to investigate the incident and bring the culprits to justice.
“ADF condemns the killings and the brutal display of naked impunity which led to the ugly incident,” the statement said.
“We urge the Nigerian Government to investigate the dastardly killings and bring the erring Military Officer and his personnel to face the law of the land.”
The group said the Igbo have continued to suffer extrajudicial killing of genocidal in Nigeria, a situation it said predates Nigerian independence.
“We see this brutal killing of innocent Igbo citizens as a continuation of the Igbo genocide which always targets Ndigbo and subjects them to instalmental annihilation by Nigeria’s trigger happy security operatives or recruited vagabonds, miscreants, bandits or terrorists.
“The Igbo genocide which started in the pre-independence period, precisely in 1937 (Katsina Railway Riots), 1948(Jos Riots), 1953 (Kano Riots) and reached its nadir during the fatricidal Nigeria-Biafra civil war is characterized by conspiratorial tendencies to embark on the gruesome elimination of Ndigbo at the slightest provocation, either through anti-Igbo riots, organised killing fields or orchestrated shooting incidents such as the recent one in the Ladipo Market in Lagos.
“It is regrettable that the Igbo genocide has become the longest, most sustained and most continuous genocide in the history of the African continent and the world in general, and has remained unresolved till date.”
