Afenifere Condemns Attacks on Igbos During Election

Shola Oyeyipo in Abuja

Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has expressed displeasure over perceived selected attacks on people from the South-east in what was considered a deliberate attempt by political thugs to prevent them from electing leaders of their choice during last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections in Lagos.

The National Publicity Secretary, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, who registered the group’s disapproval in a statement yesterday, also condemned the lackluster attitude of security agencies to protecting the victims of the attacks.

“Afenifere condemns in the strongest terms, the political violence visited on Nigerians of Ndigbo extraction in Lagos during the Saturday presidential elections. Dirty political merchants and their band of thugs, apart from engineering political disenfranchisement of Ndigbo, went ahead to visit violence on them and burning their votes en masse.

“The political vandals they used were said to have been calling themselves Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) but our checks with the genuine leaders of the group have shown that the deranged elements had no affiliation with the OPC known by Afenifere.

“We frown seriously at the failure of the security agencies to give adequate cover to Ndigbo in the affected communities as these thugs went berserk carrying out the instructions of their sinking political godfathers,” the group stated.

In a show of solidarity, Afenifere assured Igbos that their relationship remains preserved irrespective of the attacks by the hoodlums,

“We want to assure our Igbo brothers and sisters that the bond of friendship the Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have built remains intact,” it added.