Ohanaeze condemns video threatening Yoruba, Benin people with poison

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has condemned a viral video clip in which a Canada-based woman, Amaka Patience Sunnberger, made threatening comments against Nigerians of Yoruba and Benin descent.

The group has called on security agencies to trace the perpetrators of this “macabre dance” and ensure they face the full weight of the law.

In the video, the woman, speaking in Pidgin English, said, “Record me very well; it’s time to start poisoning the Yoruba and the Benin. Put poison in all your food at work. Put poison in your water, so that you all die one by one.”

Reacting to the video, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in a statement on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, stated that while it might have ignored the video as the work of a “deranged psychopath” or one of the many fictitious narratives circulated online, concerns raised by others necessitated a response.

“It becomes imperative for Ohanaeze to respond, especially since Mr Jare Ajayi, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, forwarded the clip and requested prompt action.

“Firstly, there is no sufficient evidence that the lady in question is Igbo. Her behaviour does not reflect the Igbo traits of thoughtfulness, discretion, self-censure and equanimity. No Igbo person would contemplate throwing stones in a crowded market for fear of who might be affected.

“In other words, the Igbo travel more extensively than any other African ethnic group. They create homes away from home wherever they are, integrate with the local community, and contribute to the development of every place they find themselves,” the statement noted.

The organisation reminded the younger generation that the Igbo, Edo, and Yoruba share much in common, including cultural affinity, cosmology, morphology, and hospitality.

“Ohanaeze seizes this opportunity to enlighten the younger generations that the Igbo, Edo, and Yoruba share many similarities. We share cultural affinity, cosmology, morphology, and hospitality. The longstanding inter-marriages between the Igbo, Yoruba, and Edo have produced well-accomplished great-grandchildren,” the group added.

Ohanaeze assured Afenifere, the Yoruba, and Edo brothers that “the threat from this depraved mind should be dismissed as idiotic, meaningless, and vacuous. We add that, throughout history, proposals by the maladjusted are always dead on arrival.