Nze Emeka Umeagbalasi
*Says there’s inherent danger ahead
By Alphonsus Nweze
A human rights and pro-democracy group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has raised the alarm over secret occupation of South East by those he described as the murderous jihadists herdsmen.
In a research and investigative report by the group, they accused the five South East Governors of secretly conniving with these herdsmen in the allocation of land and granting of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
They alleged that the Governors engaged in the land deal swap because of electoral victory and post election court victory even when they are aware of the grave danger the whole thing portend to the future, faith and security of lives of their people.
Intersociety in the report signed by its chairman, Board of Trustees BoT Nze Emeka Umeagbalasi, reprimanded the church leaders in the South East especially the Bishops of orthodox churches and General Overseers of Pentecostal churches for keeping silent in the face of the clear and present danger apparently because of their closeness with the Governors.
“They have lost their assertiveness, independence and episcopal neutrality. They even engaged in false denials, misinformation and misrepresentation of facts where such Jihadists herders attacks erupt in communities or their dioceses where they are episcopally in charge, “the rights groups said.
The group expressed disappointment that the Abia State Governor, Dr Otti, they earlier removed from their report in April thinking he was not part of the four other pro-herdsmen Governors, has joined them through his “vicarious involvement of his Government in facilitation of Jihadist Fulani herdsmen and allied others jihadist settlements in the South-East or any part thereof including Abia State; particularly by way of bureaucratic and policy legitimization of such jihadist settlements despite inherent security challenge.”
The group said given the aforementioned reasons the Governors have not “not only refused to speak out or rise in strong condemnation of the genocidal jihadist activities of the Jihadist Fulani herdsmen and allied others in Igbo land but have also bluntly refused and failed to act or take action as Chief Security Officers of their respective States”.
Intersociety alleged: “The Five South-East Christian Governors are also found not to be alone in such conspiracy of silence, complicity and inaction as top leaders of Christian Faith especially Episcopal and Pastoral heads of the Catholic, the Anglican and the Pentecostal churches have joined them by being too attached to the Governors; forcing them to lose their assertiveness, independent voice and Episcopal neutrality; to the extent that some of them are facilitated by gubernatorial or political establishments to publicly speak or engage in false denials, misinformation or misrepresentation of facts whenever such jihadist herders attacks erupt in communities or dioceses where they are episcopally in charge.
For instance in recent time when herdsmen attacked Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo, Enugu State this is even when their Episcopal houses are on fire”.
They continued: “It is not as if the five South-East Christian Governors are not aware of grave dangers inherent in leasing and mortgaging the territorial, personal, collective, faith, ethnic and infrastructural security and safety of the South-East, they are fully aware and not blind to the goings-on in places like Benue, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, etc. That is to say that the five South-East Christian Governors are most likely to be aware that the greatest threat facing provision of physical security in the South-East is the gross partisanship and discriminatory law enforcements and operations by the country’s security agencies drafted to the Region since August 2015, particularly personnel of the Armed Forces”.
They lamented that Governors are aware that not less than 20,500-21,000 defenceless ‘sedentary South Easterners have been killed or hacked to death by combined forces of Islamic Jihadists and Jihad-enablers within the country’s security forces, covering a period of ten years or May 2015 to May 2025.
The group decried that: “Partisanship and discriminatory law enforcements and operations of the drafted security forces are so noticeable and manifestly biased that there are little or zero operational statistics showing the number of Jihadist Fulani herdsmen and allied others gone after or apprehended and prosecuted or “neutralized” in the line of crossfire since August 2015 to date”.
The rights group said they have studied: “roadway and captivity killings or abductions and allied ransom payments and disappearances in the South-East and traced them to the doorsteps of the assembled Jihadists in the Region, yet such have never been traced or located in the official operational records of the deployed personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces and Police crack squads anywhere in the Region; who regularly turn around and blame them on “IPOB/ESN/UGM terrorism”.
They warned: “There are therefore grave dangers ahead on personal, physical, territorial, faith and ethnic identity safety and security in the South-East; bearing in mind the intractable jihadist tragedies befalling the Christian-held Northern Nigeria’s Benue, Plateau and Southern Kaduna; with a typical case in point being in Benue State (largest Christian State in Northern Nigeria) where Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have ceaselessly continued wreaking havoc in many parts of defenceless Benue Christian communities”.
The most shocking of it, Intersociety said, was the disclosure by the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association in Makurdi Diocese, led by Rev. Father Joseph Beba, who in a press briefing on June 1, 2025, disclosed that: “15 Catholic Parishes under Makurdi Diocese have been closed down or sacked and over 50 Christians hacked to death by armed herders in the past two weeks of May 2025″.
In addition, he was quoted as having said, several communities including Tse Orbiam, Abume, Jimba, Nagi-Camp, Aondoana, Yelewata, and Abegan have been sacked.
