•Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq
Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and a prominent human rights lawyer, has urged Nigerians to urgently and lawfully organise themselves to defend their ancestral lands and heritage against attacks by terror Fulani herdsmen.
In a press statement issued over the weekend via WhatsApp to journalists in Onitsha, Ejiofor emphasised that the current security situation has deteriorated to a point where individuals must take lawful steps to ensure their safety, reports Vanguard.
According to Ejiofor, “It has become glaringly evident that Indigenous communities can no longer afford to rely on a system that has consistently failed to protect them.”
He warned that the ongoing “annihilation agenda” pursued by terror groups could only be resisted through a determined and united communal will for survival.
The statement read in part: “In the light of this grim reality, Indigenous communities can no longer entrust their safety to a system that has persistently failed them. I therefore call on our people to urgently and lawfully organise in defense of their ancestral lands and heritage, strictly within the legal framework authorized by law.”
Ejiofor cited the recent coordinated attacks across Benue and Plateau States during the Easter period, where dozens of innocent lives were reportedly lost to terror Fulani herdsmen.
He criticised the response from government officials, noting contradictions in their public statements. According to him, while the Governor of Benue State praised the federal government’s efforts, he simultaneously appealed for further intervention — a contradiction that highlighted the gravity of the crisis and the inadequacy of official responses.
Ejiofor also referenced the Defence Minister’s announcement of a presidential directive to track and prosecute the perpetrators but lamented that despite such pronouncements, the violence continued unabated.
He concluded: “The sustained annihilation agenda of these terror groups demands an unwavering, communal resolve for survival. History will not absolve a people who, faced with an existential threat, chose silence or inaction.”
