The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has condemned the withdrawal of onion shipments to the South East until further notice.
TrackNews Online reports that the Onion Dealers Association in Imo State, Halilu Muhammad, had said that the association had stopped the movement of onions to the South East until further notice.
Muhammad claimed that members of the association lost over N13 million to the recent seizure of onion trucks heading to the region.
He added that gunmen intercepted two onion trucks heading to the South East and sold them to locals for N9,000 per bag instead of N15,000.
Reacting, Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said the move is a conspiracy against the South East to destabilise the region.
He described it as a simple strategy aimed at using the weapon of hunger against the people of the South-East.
Isiguzoro noted that the Ohanaeze will never instigate the stoppage of palm oil shipment to the Northern region.
He noted that the insecurities ravaging the region are allegedly caused by a northern cartel that wants to deny Igbo people their rightful position in Nigeria.
The Ohanaeze scribe, however, vowed that it would never allow Igbo people to stoop low to civil disobedience but rather allow peace to reign.
He said, “We have observed that all the things happening to South-East are well-coordinated attacks by a cartel that wants to destabilise South-East for economic and political reasons.
“First, you hear the National Chairman of Arewa telling the northerners to leave the South-East that the region is no longer safe for them. You have also seen the American embassy warning the people of southern Nigeria that northern bandits and Boko Haram are moving to the South to destabilise the South, particularly the South-East.
“You have seen President Muhammadu Buhari threatening to unleash the war experience against the Igbos. And currently, we can see the perishable goods. They have done it before and they are using hunger as a strategy to ensure that the South-East does not keep up the political aspiration for 2023.
“All these are the handiwork of northern cartel aimed at denying Igbos their rightful position in Nigeria and pushing them to civil disobedience that will lead to another civil war but the South-East will overcome all these evil conspiracies.
”Igbos are known all over the world as emergency experts that can handle any delicate situation and turn it into a gold mine.
“Ohanaeze will not instigate the blockage of palm oil to the North because Igbos have over N22 trillion worth of investments and property in the 19 northern states and whatever has been happening, including the (Ahmed) Gulak assassination is to prompt the repeat of 1966 massacre but we will resist them this time around.
“We are calling on those who are behind these to stop before it is too late, whether they block onions or do not block onions to the South-East, we will overcome this conspiracy.”
