In this interview with IKENNA OBIANERI, the Seriki Hausa in Anambra State, Alhaji Garba Haruna, speaks on the recent killing of a pregnant woman and her four children in Anambra State, the relationship between northerners and indigenes in the state
What is your name and how long have you been here?
My name is Alhaji Garba Haruna. I am the Seriki Hausa in Anambra State. I am above 60 years old right now. I have lived in Anambra State for over 50 years now. My father was here before the civil war and during the war, he took us back to the North and we came back to Anambra after the war
Between that time and now, what has really changed?
In Anambra State, we don’t have a problem. We have been living very peacefully in Anambra State. Some of our parents lived here for over 100 years and they lived peacefully too. In 1971, my father was a councillor here and the late Eze Ize Ndigbo was his secretary. This is to show that there has been a cordial relationship between indigenes and non-indigenes. The only problem that comes is this IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra) issue.
Are you saying that the IPOB issue changed the security dynamics in the state?
Yes. It started because of IPOB and they came with a mission. They want to get freedom for Biafra. It is a good mission because it is their right, but the bad ones among them have spoilt the agitations and complicated the issue for them. When they started at the beginning, they were doing it peacefully, sometimes, they marched peacefully across the state, even they passed through our communities and they never had issues with us or anybody. However, the peaceful agitations had been hijacked and now we see shootings and killings everywhere.
