Northern Coalition Calls For Boycott Of Igbo Businesses In Reaction To IPOB’s ‘Fulani Cow’ Ban

Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has directed all Northerners to boycott the sale, purchase and consumption of goods from the South-Eastern part of the country from April 2022.

The directive was in reaction to the ban by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on the use of ‘Fulani cows’ (beef) in the South East.

On Monday, in a New Year message by Chika Edoziem, director of state of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the proscribed group banned the slaughtering of “Fulani cows” in the south-east.

Reacting in a statement on Thursday, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, spokesman of the CNG, stated that the IPOB’s order last Monday “amounts to grave provocation and serious threat to Northern commercial interests in the South East, and by extension to the physical wellbeing of Northerners living as minorities among Igbo communities.”

He stated;

It is a renewed resolve to pay coin for coin any direct or indirect attack or threat to Northerners and their interests anywhere in the country.

Suleiman stated that the ban on beef by IPOB amounts to a grave provocation and serious threat to northern commercial interests in the south-east region.

The CNG spokesman then declared the boycott on businesses run by Igbo in the north, effective from April.

The statement further urged northerners everywhere not to support any political party or form any political movement that has the active participation of South East politicians.

He stated;

For the avoidance of doubt, the North while maintaining its tradition of tolerance and accommodation shall however no longer be disposed to condoning further acts of irresponsibility in the form of deliberate threats of intimidation or harassment targeted at Northerners living and doing legitimate businesses elsewhere in the country.

Since such targeted utterances have in the past being preludes to physical attacks on northerners and destruction of their properties in particularly the South East, we urge northern transporters and suppliers of goods to consider alternative trade routes to avoid the imminent risks that come with this IPOB threat.

Suleiman noted;

We warn that the North has had enough of the antagonism from the South East and its attack dog, the IPOB and will no longer remain passive under such deliberate and sustained attacks and will henceforth be forced to react to every provocation and unwarranted abuse and violations.

All those who have no other useful vocation other than attacking northerners under the slightest of pretexts, should know that our patience has reached its nadir. The North’s reticence in speaking out or taking action is not born of fear or ignorance of how to respond in kind.