THE professionals group in All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA Ambassadors, yesterday described as “unfortunate”, the statement credited to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the 72 persons dropped in the wee hours in the commercial city of Onitsha by the agents of Lagos State Government, saying the statement by the spokesman of the newly registered All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Lai Mohammed, was merely a face –saving measure and shows how Igbo are treated.
In a statement issued in Awka, the leader of the APGA group, Mr. .Hilary Ejesieme said that a careful perusal of APC’s statement shows that it was a rehearsal of what those trying desperately to defend the actions of Lagos State government had already said, betraying the fact that they merely voice what they have been asked to voice, without seeking the truth.
The statement said: “The moment these human cargoes were off-loaded at Upper Iweka, a Human Rights group that got wind of it alerted us. We arrived there at 6:15 am only to see over 20 of them at Upper Iweka. Upon enquiry, we corroborated the information we received, namely that many of them had already left for their various states and some back to Lagos. It was confirmed that there were 72 of them.”
“It was wrong for APC to drag the name of Governor Peter Obi into the saga, remarking that Obi himself, who is worried over the leakage of the letter to the press, had come out to say that he had the greatest respect for Gov. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and had also called him on phone over the matter.
“However, the act raised some fundamental questions, of why, for whatever reason, Nigerians should be treated like common criminals in their own country; why the dumping had to be at 2am and not at a normal time; why they were dumped at Onitsha and not Awka the State capital? Besides, the recent dumping was not the first time such a thing would take place.
“The position of APC on the entire matter is quite perplexing and shows how the party regards and treats the Igbos. Everywhere in the World, from the USA to Europe, there are still beggars on the streets and nowhere are they treated like common criminals without rights. All that Obi did in this case, was to say it was wrong to treat Nigerians in such a cavalier manner as the authorities in Lagos did.”
“Contrary to the claims by APC that it was the failure of Anambra State to act when notified about the development that led to the dumping of those people, investigations showed that Anambra State Liaison Office, Lagos, reacted to the letter written by the Special Adviser, Lagos State Ministry of Youth & Social Development and requested names and identity of those to be deported and there was no information from Lagos regarding the actual deportation.
“It was a matter of grave concern that the names provided by Lagos State as people from Anambra were mostly names foreign to Anambra State such as Andy Oshornogor, Emmanuel Okon, Joseph Eto, Victoria Agboola. Equally, names provided as local governments of origin of those people such as Ikanu, Ogbosili, Obudu were not known to Anambra State.
“Also contrary to the claims of Lagos that only 14 persons were dumped, the SSS report has over 20 names which they met at the scene after some of them had left. The people were brought under the cover of the night with clear intention of dumping them incognito and luck simply ran out of them.
“It was also no true that Anambra deported some beggars from the state in 2011 and we view this as only a ploy to present Anambra as equally disdainful of Nigerians. Obi had no reason to act for political reasons as he is currently serving out his second term and will not contest the forthcoming election”
The statement condemned what it described as the antics of Igbos who, it stated, have clearly proved to be agents for the enslavement of their people in the APC and who are being used to justify an act that was ignoble and condemnable.
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