A civil rights advocacy group – Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) – has urged the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to probe the alleged plot to attack Igbo residents in Lagos if the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, loses the February 25 poll.
HURIWA, through a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said reports have it that operatives of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) have been mandated to stockpile guns and other dangerous weapons ahead of the presidential poll.
HURIWA noted that reports claim that male South-easterners would be attacked at night and killed in what would be made to look like a riot, so there will be no suspicion by the international community.
The attacks are reportedly planned in areas such as Oshodi-Isolo (Mafoluku area to Oke Afa), Ijora Badia (Amukoko, Alaba Suru, Orile and environs; Ikate, Itire, Ijesha, Cele, Okota, Ajegunle, Olodi Apapa, Coconut, Ojokoro-Ijaye, Agbara, Ojo and Okoko, Satellite Town and FESTAC Town, Mushin, towards Ojuelegba – all those areas with heavy Igbo population.
Onwubiko said: “Security agencies like the Department of State Services and other intelligence agencies must rise up quickly and investigate the reported planned attack on Igbo in Lagos if APC flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, loses the February 25 election.
“Security agencies must swiftly probe this with a view to nipping it in the bud, because it has the potential of igniting a tribal war.
“Already, Tinubu’s running mate and former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, was reported to have threatened to frustrate Igbos in Lagos in a leaked tape, which he has since denied.
“Nigerians, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliations, have the constitutional right to exercise their franchise to whoever they prefer, without being intimidated or coaxed. It is, therefore, undemocratic to also try to make sure Igbo do not vote in Lagos.
“HURIWA demands security of lives and property before, amid, and after the elections of February 25 and March 11. All Nigerians must be protected, regardless of their choice of candidate or their ethnicity.”