The youth wing of the Igbo socio-cultural body, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, has given a 48-hour ultimatum to all Fulanis with an AK-47 rifle in any part of South-East to leave the region, else, they will be treated like bush animals.

This was contained in a statement issued by Chukwuemeka Chimerue, Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Igboayaka. O Igboayaka, National President of Ohanaeze Youths Council, on Monday.

The statement is sequel to an allegation made by Celestine Okoye, a former Deputy Inspector General of Police, who in an interview said that “there are 332 Fulani herdsmen settlers heavily armed with AK47 rifles across the five states of the South-East zone waiting to unleash terror on Ndigbo”.

According to Igboayaka, the former DIG’s allegations corroborated with a similar report by a civil society organisation, the International Society For Civil Liberties & The Rule Of Law (Intersociety), noting that Igbo youths would not sit idly to watch terrorists invade Igbo land.

Igboayaka warned “all Fulani herdsmen with AK47 rifles to immediately vacate their hidden locations in Igbo land within 48 hours or risk being treated like bush animals wherever they are sighted with weapons”.

The OYC also accused President Muhammadu Buhari and the security agencies of maintaining silence over the disturbing revelation, saying that the government has contributed to the disintegration of the country.

“President Buhari and his security agencies who are aiding and abetting the crimes of criminal Fulani herdsmen should understand that they have done everything necessary to ensure Nigeria’s disintegration.

“This revelation is in line with a recent research made by International Society For Civil Liberties & The Rule Of Law (Intersociety), one of the leading civil society groups in Nigeria wherein they published that 433 locations in Igbo land are domiciled by these dreaded Fulani herdsmen waiting to attack the entire old Eastern region.

“Buhari and his kinsmen have divided Nigeria, leading the country into anarchy, tribal hate and crisis,” Igboayaka added.

The OYC leader cautioned the President and his kinsmen to have a rethink “on their covert Fulanization agenda and ethnic cleansing of other nationalities in Nigeria”, reminding them that “the Fulani who are not more than seven million in population cannot successfully conquer over eighty million Igbo”.

“The 1967-1970 genocide against Ndigbo where all tribes in the West, Middle-West and Hausa tribe fought against Ndigbo would not repeat again.

“Fulanis should get ready to contend with the forces of all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria if they go ahead to embark on this impending attack against Ndigbo,” Igboayaka stated