By Michael Chukwuebuka, Reporting
Tears flowed freely as slain 32-year-old Hausa pregnant woman, Fatima Jibril, and her four of children and others killed by the gunmen in South East of Nigeria, were buried at Hausa Cemetary, Onitsha, Anambra State.
Mrs. Jibril, an indigene of Adamawa State, was buried alongside her four beautiful children: Fatima, Khadijah, Hadiza and Zaituna, aged nine, seven, five and two others on Tuesday.
She was nine months pregnant.
The general secretary of Arewa community in Anambra State, Mr Mahmud Ibrahim Imam, who made the announcement in a statement he signed and issue to Newsmen in Awka, on Thursday, however, called for calm.
Imam have details of the barbaric act that occured last Sunday: “What happened was on Sunday 22 may 2022. We woke up peaceful, but later in the day, we started receiving calls from our members from various locations of the state that the so called unknown gun had launched series of attacks on them, which led to the deaths of about 15 persons.
“That of Orumba Local Government Area was the most trending which involved a pregnant woman, Fatima Jibrin with her four kids were murdered in the middle of the road by these faceless and wicked people, called unknown gunmen.
“All the massacre happened on the same day. We are saying, this is a well-planned and targeted on our people only. And the point of emphasis is the fact that those killings were not the first time that such attacks and killings would be unleashed on Arewa people in Anambra State since after the last governorship election that was conducted late last year.
“Even on the 18th of April 2022, seven Arewa were brutally killed by the same gunmen at night at Atani in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra which we wrote to the state government, but even a condolence was not extended to us by the governor or any of the leaders of thoughts in the state.
“We have the video of their burial at our cemetery in onitsha. We have buried all of them in our cemetary here in Onitsha, Anambra State.
“We are mourning and also living in a state of extreme fear in the whole of Anambra State.
“It should be noted that if not for our concerted efforts and serious resistance of not taking the corpses back to the North and they are from different states, only Almighty Allah knows what would befall our Igbo brothers residing over there as a result of retaliation for the heinous and barbaric actions meted on Arewa people in Eastern Nigeria, particularly in Anambra State.
“Note that of all these senseless and unprovoked killings of innocent souls in the guise of unknown gunmen, it was on record that that Sunday only, northerners were affected, but to our greatest shock and amazement, the state government, through the press secretary of state governor, Mr. Christian Aburime, released a statement that those killings that occurred on Sunday had nothing to do with ethnic or religious connection.
“On that I responded by challenging the governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to tender any form of evidence that proves otherwise, till this moment they couldn’t tender anything to backup their position.
“Instead, to confirm the statement and position on the matter, they later issued another press release at night, condemning the killings which they earlier refused to acknowledge.
“What type of country are we?
Arewa people are highly discouraged and disappointed, residing in Anambra State.
“We are peace-loving people and we have been living peacefully with our host community for centuries over 200 years in the state.
“We are calling on both state and the Federal government to intervene just to bring to an end the killings going on in the South East, particularly Anambra State.
“I am revealing all these things because I am on ground, saw everything that happened we have videos and pictures as evidence.
“I am equally calling on the state government to intensify their efforts in collaboration with all the security agencies and critical stakeholders in the state to avert further killings of settlers, Northerners and every humans residents in the state.
“Peaceful, unity, harmony and mutual respect is the only solution to this unrest.
“Soludo, is the Governor for all people in Anambra state because we all voted for him therefore we should be treated equally as humans regardless of ethnicity or religion affiliations,” Imam concluded.
Meanwhile, there have been condemnations of the killing of the pregnant woman and her four children at Isolo, in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, a Lagos lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), while condemning the heinous murder, called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the gunmen.
The state governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, on his effort, has pledged justice for the slain pregnant Fatima and her four children, vowing that no stone would be left unturned in fishing out and dealing with their assailants.
Soludo has, without mincing words, described the May 20, 2022, killing of pregnant Fatima and her four children by unidentified assailants as “barbaric and unacceptable.”
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