The Association of South East Town Union has reacted to the blockade of foodstuff by Northern groups stating that the region can feed itself.
Speaking, the group’s National President, Emeka Diwe, and the Secretary, Gideon Adikwuru, in a statement on Tuesday, said it would within a short time put a stop to the capital flight caused by what they called “the imperialism of the northern agro-cartels in Igboland.”
According to Sahara Reporters, the union stated that blockade will not make the region shake or scamper for help rather it has helped the plan of Ndigbo to attain self-sufficiency in food production.
It’s statement reads,
“The target is to encourage the steady and seamless repatriation of Igbo wealth back home, thereby unleashing the potential in all the sectors of the local economy and facilitate job and wealth creation for our people through various value chains.
“We prepared for it, and it has aided the materialisation of our initiative and fast-tracked our agenda, which is to harvest home our wealth and make our land an oasis of prosperity among the Black race,” ASETU said.
Reacting, the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) says that it prefers that farm produce goes to waste rather than tolerate “continued attacks” on its members in the South.
Speaking to theCable on Tuesday, an official of the union, Awwalu Aliyu, said it’s the decision was not to starve Southerners but to protest attacks on its members.
Aliyu restated the group’s claim that northerners were killed and lost properties, especially during the #EndSARS protests and the recent Shasha market crisis in Ibadan, Oyo State.
When asked if members of the union were not concerned about food items locked up inside trucks in Jebba going bad and leading to losses, he said, “It would be better to lose the food items than to lose lives. You’re talking about losing goods; which one is better, to lose a life or to lose property? Losing property is better than losing a life.
We prefer and our people will prefer to lose those farm items or goods than to continue losing their lives. If you are alive, you can plant another thing, you can rear another cattle. But if you’re dead, you can’t do that again. Only the living can go to the farm.
We do not want to destroy anybody. We do not want to kill anybody. The number of Yorubas and Ibos that reside in Kano and Kaduna alone is far more than the number of northerners in the entire South-West, South-South and South-East.
Also, the investments of Yorubas and Igbos in Kano and Kaduna, running into billions of naira are more than the entire investments of northerners in the South-West, South-East and South-South if you remove Aliko Dangote. Our people are only petty traders, ‘shoe shiners’ (cobblers), fingernail cutters, wheelbarrow pushers, okada riders and so on.
Our people in the South don’t have what southerners have in the North. They have farmlands, buildings and a lot of properties that run into billions of naira. We do not intend to destroy anybody’s property. What we want is to have our people protected from being killed.”
Source – Sahara Reporters
