Displaced Igbo indigenes due to attacks by the Boko Haram sect have called on government to establish emergency relief fund to assist the victims from the South East geo-political zone.
Some of the returnees made the appeal at Umuahia Express Tower Park, when they were welcomed by their relatives on Tuesday.
The returnees conveyed in luxury buses comprised of 54 adults and 49 children totaling 103 persons mainly from Abia and Imo states.
The return of the displaced Igbo indigenes from Kano was facilitated by Chief Raph Uwazuruike, the leader of Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and his members.???
Mrs Mary Nwogu, a mother of six, told reporters that government should assist the returnees to enable them restart life.
She noted that such money would help assuage the excruciating effect of the violent attacks of the Boko Haram sect on victims.
“Majority of the returnees are coming home with nothing after living in Kano for more than 25 years, because the situation under which we are coming does not allow one to carry many items.
“To help victims survive, both the federal and state governments should establish special fund to resettle those affected, to avoid obvious anti-social consequences,” she said.
Nwogu, a native of Ezinnihete Mbaise, who resides in Dakata Quarters in Kano, also called on the Federal Government to evolve a more workable way of addressing insecurity problem in Kano and other parts of the north.
Another returnee, Mrs Comfort Ibeh thanked the leadership of MASSOB for its thoughtfulness in arranging for their return, noting that “more people are willing to come back to South East to restart life''.
Chief Larry Odimma, Aba Regional Administrator of MASSOB, who welcomed the returnees, said the group had evacuated more than 700 Igbo peoples from different parts of the north.
“We have established a camp at Okigwe, Imo, for those without home. MASSOB will continue to facilitate the return of more Igbo because our major concern is for our people to return to life,” he said.
Odimma said the group has no plan to revenge the killings of Igbo people by Boko Haram.
“MASSOB is a non-violent group. Our appeal to our northern brothers is to know that violence does not pay and killing in whatever form is evil before God and Man,” Odimma noted.?