‘Stop dangerous profiling of Igbos for not participating in hunger protest – Abaribe, Igariwey tell Lagospedia

By Uchenna Okeh, Abakaliki 

The leaders of the South East Senate and house of representatives caucus of the National Assembly at the weekend, condemned in totality the alleged ethnic profiling of Igbos for shunning participation in the ongoing nationwide ‘end bad governance/ hunger’ protest.

The south east senate and house of representatives caucus, made this known in a statement signed by senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and Igariwey Iduma Enwo and issued to newsmen.

The statement reads in part: “The position of the south east caucus of the national assembly on the ethnic profiling of Igbos against the background of the mass protests across the country.

“The attention of the South East Caucus of the National Assembly has been drawn to the unfortunate  and dangerous ethnic profiling of Igbos in the ongoing mass protests across the country. 

For the record, 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. This is 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 seen 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. 

“Such should not be our fate again in Nigeria. We demand that the security agencies bring to book the purveyors of this hate speech in line with the cybercrimes act.

“We continue to appeal to Igbos across the country to stay away from the protests, and remain law abiding” they stressed.