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Fears over Almajirai influx into Southsouth, Southeast
Some state governments in the Southsouth and Southeast of Nigeria are meeting over the influx of Almajirai to their regions.
The Delta and Anambra state governments are the first two to meet over proffering a solution to the problem.
Southeast leaders had last week lamented the increasing relocation of the northern youths, despite the COVID-19 interstate travel ban by the Federal Government.
The highest Igbo socio-cultural organisation, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Igbo National Council (INC) and the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) called for a halt to the influx.
In a bid to stop the movement, the Willie Obiano administration had erected a small barricade at the pedestrian part of the Niger Bridge at Onitsha in Anambra State.
But, the barricade was dismantled by the Delta State government officials last weekend.
However, both states have held talks on how to work together to manage the situation.
Anambra Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Don Adinuba, told our reporter that officials met three times over the matter.
He said they would meet again today to conclude arrangements on how to check the Almajirai influx.
“The meetings have been held in a very convivial and brotherly manner. Subsequent meetings will follow the same trajectory of peace and solidarity.
“Each party is quite committed to the battle against the coronavirus pandemic,” Adinuba said.
Ohanaeze President in Anambra State, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, last week said the Federal Government had failed to effectively enforce its order banning interstate travel.
“We must take our security in our hands. No other person can do that,” he said.
The INC described the relocation of the Amajirai as an assault on Ndigbo.
Its President, Chilos Confident, expressed dismay at what he called the clandestine movement of the Almajirai into various communities and towns in Igboland.
He urged Igbo leaders to reinvigorate their vigilante outfits and initiate an identification exercise in their communities.
ASATU National President Chief Alex Onukwue wondered why the Almajirai were moving to the Southeast rather than returning to their states of origin.
“We wish to warn that should this callous business of shipping strange persons continue, Almajirai or not, from the North or elsewhere to Anambra State in light of COVID-19 restrictions, we will be left with no choice than to confront the situation with all the seriousness it deserves. We can no longer take it as child’s play,” he said.
Also, Ohanaeze Youths, in a statement by its National Deputy President, Dr Kingsly Dozie, urged the Southeast states to ensure the Almajirai returned to where they came from.
“We will no longer tolerate the sabotage by security operatives who should man our borders and stop the influx of the Almajiris, including suspected Boko Haram extremists,” he said in a statement.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) said the free movement of the Almajirai, despite the lockdown, was a threat to efforts to curtail the spread of Coronavirus.
National Vice President (Southeast) Dr Cosmas Ilechukwu said it was strange and inexcusable that “these men and women are flooding into the Southeast despite the nationwide lockdown and ban on interstate travel”.
Traditional rulers in Anambra State also urged the Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) to strictly enforce the ban on interstate travel.
Obi of Onitsha Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe and other monarchs made their position known in a communique issued after an expanded Executive Committee meeting of the Anambra Traditional Ruler’s Council.
The monarchs “noted, particularly, the mass exportation of Alamajiris from some Northern states to the South (Lagos, Edo, Abia, Rivers, etc) despite the ban on interstate travels”.
They “expressed serious concern that many of them may already be infected with COVID-19, and urged the government to ensure that they do not enter Anambra State since they would not fit into our economic, social and cultural environment”.
