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Tobias Michael Idika, president, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Kano State Chapter, has spent more than 35 years in Kano. He speaks to Anza Phillips, assistant editor, on the plight of Igbo in the Northern parts of the country.  Excerpts:

Newswatch: People of other ethnic nationalities have complained of several forms of challenges they are facing in Kano, since the recent co-ordinated bombing by Boko Haram. As the president, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Kano State branch, can you tell us these challenges?

Idika:  The attack by Boko Haram did not come to us as a surprise.  We foresaw the ugly trend coming.  But we are still surprised that it happened despite the fact that the information had leaked that the attack was going to be carried out.  It is also a very sad thing to remember that many of our people were brutally killed.  It is just by God’s mercy that this enclave called Sabon Gari area of Kano, which is predominantly occupied by Igbo and other ethnic nationalities was not attacked.

Newswatch: Their main target in the attack were police, the military and federal government agencies whom they blame for the arrest and detention of their members?

Idika:  That claim by Boko Haram is frivolous.

Newswatch:  Why is it frivolous?

Idika: Those claims were frivolous.  We believe that they were trying to weaken the security agencies to carry out their nefarious attack on innocent people and places.  Now let me give you an example of what I am saying.  At the Ring Road, along Independence Road here in Kano, members of Boko Haram mounted a road block there on the ill-fated day.  Once you come there, they would ask you of your name.  If you bore a Christian name, you would be shot dead.  They killed several people in such circumstances.  That is why I said their claims are frivolous.  In fact, what happened in Kano, on Friday and Saturday was purely a Jihad against the Igbo and nothing more. We will no longer sit and fold our arms to be killed enmasse like that again.  We cannot continue like this anymore.

The next thing you see is that the same neighbour you have been complaining about is now using AK47 assault rifles, sub-machine guns and bombs.  It means that he has graduated from the level where we had known him to a higher and more sophisticated level.  What is happening here calls for great concern by all well-meaning persons.  So, presently as I speak to you, we are in a very serious mess here as a people.  Therefore, it is apparent that Kano is no longer safe for our people.

Newswatch:  We learnt that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo has put up a call that all Igbo residents in Kano, should go back to the East.  Is that the true position of things?

Idika: Yes.  But our people are stranded.  Women and children are stranded.  Our population here is more than three million.  I mean our people in Kano State, not only in the towns but also in the rural areas.  They are stranded.  The luxury bus operators are not helping matters.  Some of them are charging as high as four to five thousand Naira per head to the East.  Some of these stranded persons have no money at all.  And that’s the more reason why we are calling on the South-East governors to come to our rescue.  They should immediately provide transportation and security to evacuate our people who are stranded here back to the East.  This is because going by history, anywhere Boko Haram starts the onslaught they hardly ever stop.  That’s what is happening in Maiduguri, Bauchi and Yobe states.  Now that this has started in Kano, we have it on good authority that this enclave, Sabon Gari area, is a target of attack.  There are some of our people who are willing to stay here in Kano, and defend themselves, they are not willing to go.  Fine, they can remain. But for the very many children, women in large numbers, we cannot afford to lose such a large community.  That’s why we have called on the governors from the South-East to, as a matter of urgency, plan the evacuation of  the Igbo from Kano, back to the East.

Newswatch: You said people in Kano, and the authorities had prior knowledge of the attack.  How true is that?

Idika:  Members of Boko Haram had before the attack on Friday and Saturday, given a three - day ultimatum to all Southerners to leave or be attacked.  Besides that, the group had its eyes set on Kano.  Don’t forget that in April 2007, members of this sect, through the Panshekara axis, carried out an onslaught in Kano.  For more than six days, there was a heavy gun battle between members of the sect and the police only for the military to be drafted into it much later before members of the sect were overpowered.  Though defeated then, members of the sect did not go away from Kano. They were and are harboured by some influential people in Kano city.

Newswatch:  People are counting their losses.  From Ndigbo, how many of your people were killed?

Idika:  For now, the figure is 35.  But mind you, the search is ongoing, and there are several others with fatal injuries in the hospitals.  Beside this, it is the belief of Ohanaeze that we have lost too many souls of Igbo extraction in the North.  Not long ago, it was the gruesome killings of Igbo people in Mubi. More than 16 people were shot dead.  The killings are all over in the North.  The casualty is getting too high. We cannot continue to condone it.

Newswatch:  Now, what in your estimation is the way out of this, what is the way forward?

Idika:  We have said it before that the partial state of emergency introduced by the federal government in some local government council areas will not solve the problem.  We are of the opinion that there should be a conference, a round table discussion with stakeholders to discuss the way forward.  Perhaps, in the course of such a conference, we may get the solution to this matter.  Like the President rightly said, these Boko Haram members are not spirits, they are human beings.  They live in our midst.  Those who harbour them know, for what purpose they are harbouring them.  This problem is not religious, it is political. It is the political leaders in the North who feel that things are not done the way they want them done that are behind this.