‘Over 950 locations in Southeast inhabited  by bandits, herdsmen, kidnappers’ 

A human rights organisation, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has sent an alarming warning  that 950 locations, especially forests, across the Southeast communities are under the occupation of bandits and killer herdsmen who roam the large swathe of territories killing and kidnapping at will.

The group maintained  that its research and investigation show  that 950 locations  spread in over 800 communities in the region, noting that about 40 per cent of the entire 1,940 communities in the zone are firmly  under bandits and herdsmen threats.

The Chairman of Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, who  released the report,  pointed accusing fingers at the South-East governors for not properly policing their states, accusing them of aiding the herdsmen to acquire land.

“By our research and investigative, the region is currently dotted with 1,940 Igbo communities, involving Abia State 771, Imo 700, Enugu 190, Anambra State 183 and Ebonyi State 96, all compressed in 29,525 square kilometres of landmass, approximately three times lower than the landmass of Niger State, a North Central zone, which has a land mass of 76,363 square kilometres.

“Some of them came to occupy the areas through the involvement and conspiracy of community leaders and state governments that issued them with a certificate of occupancy with the alleged promises of ‘electoral victory and post-election court victory’.

“It is also our finding that all the governors in the zone are involved in the conspiracy, aiding them to have access to the land.

“This is widely believed to be the reason they don’t speak out or rise in strong condemnation of the genocidal jihadist activities of the Fulani herdsmen and others in the region.

“They have also bluntly refused and failed to act or act as Chief Security Officers of their respective states.

“It is not as if the South-East governors are not aware of the inherent grave dangers in leasing and mortgaging the territory to them; they are fully aware and also not blind to the goings-on in places like Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, and other areas.”