People are not the only ones threatened by escalating insecurity in the country’s Southeast region. Cows are too. Mysterious assailants, on May 8, bizarrely targeted and set ablaze a truck transporting cattle on Ezinifite-Uga expressway in Aguata local government area of Anambra State.
A viral video showed the truck in flames, and some cows jumping down from the vehicle. There were about 40 cows involved.
Police said they received a distress call on “suspected arson and cruelty to animals by gunmen,” and rescued one Mohammed Lawan of Taraba State, and others, who were conveying livestock. They arrested a suspect in connection with the attack, and said only the front of the truck was affected by fire.
It’s unclear who the attackers were, and why they carried out the attack. The attack on the vehicle conveying cows was a new low in attacks by gunmen in the Southeast. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) seems circumstantially implicated in this attack.
The proscribed separatist group is fighting for an independent “Biafra land” made up of the five Southeast states, including Anambra State, and parts of the South-south region of the country.
Insecurity has worsened in that part of the country, since last year, following the arrest and detention of IPOB’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing trial for alleged treason and terrorism.
In January, the group had said in a statement issued by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful: “Fulani cows are banned in Biafra land starting from April 2022. Those in the animal husbandry business must switch over to our native cow without delay.”
IPOB had initially attracted attention, in October 2021, with a statement that showed its plan to regulate cattle business and cow meat consumption in the Southeast.
Its head of Directorate of State (DOS), Mazi Chika Edoziem, had announced a ban on the rearing and consumption of “Fulani cows” in the Southeast states, saying the ban would take full effect six months after the announcement.
According to him, “From that date no more Fulani cows shall be allowed into Biafra land for any reason, not for burials, title taking, weddings, etc.” He added that only cows bred in the territory would from that time on “be consumed and used for all ceremonies in Biafra land.”
People had wondered how the group intended to enforce the cow ban. It already had a bad record regarding enforcing its bad ideas.
The truck burning may well be one of the group’s enforcement methods. Law enforcement should investigate the incident, and enforce the law. It’s absurd to wage this kind of war against cows.
