The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has urged the Federal Government to take drastic action against activities of the proscribed Indegenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East.
A Chieftain of the forum, Alhaji Musa Saidu, said this in a statement in Abuja on Saturday.
Saidu, also the leader of Arewa community South-South and South East, said the government must find lasting solutions to nefarious activities of the group.
“The Federal Government must take necessary action against IPOB, the situation is getting out of hand, many innocent people are being attacked daily by the group in South East
“In fact we have documentary evidence on killings by IPOB across the South East from 1992 to date and most of the victims are our people, the security agencies are aware of this.
“It is imperative for federal government to take action against the group,’’ he said.
Saidu, also a human rights activist, made reference to the killing of a lady Mrs Fatima Jubril by gunmen suspected to be members of the group.
“We condemn in totality, the cold blood murder of Fatima Jubril and her four children and we urge security agencies to go after the killers.
“The lady was killed without any provocation.
“We call on the Anambra government to pay compensation to her family and ensure that the killers are brought to book.
“The federal government must also take necessary action against IPOB, the situation is getting out of hand, as such immediate action must be taken to prevent reprisal,’’ he said.
Saidu lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for condemning the killing.
“We comment Buhari for the verbal condemnation, but this is not enough, he must take necessary actions to stop reoccurring attacks on Northerners by IPOB,” he said.
“The Arewa community in the South has lodged several complaints on persistent IPOB attacks on Northerners in South East without response.
“We have reached out to the Northern Governors Forum, the Sultan of Sokoto and some eminent Northern elders, but the situation has continued unabated.
“ We believed in the unity of this country , therefore, we are appealing to our people to remain calm and law abiding,’’he said.
Musa said however, that the security agencies had assured of taking necessary measures to address the situation.
“We met with police commissioners in some states in South East on the situation and they promised to address the situation by stepping up security in the states.(NAN)