The Northern Governors’ Forum has condemned statements credited to a group of northern youths asking Igbos to vacate the north in the next three months.
Chairman of the Forum and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, described the comments as unfortunate and irresponsible.
“On behalf of the governor of the 19 northern states, we totally condemn such irresponsible pronouncements by those groups and we condemn, we disown and we are totally distancing ourselves from the pronouncements of those faceless groups who do not have the mandate of the people of northern Nigeria to make such loud pronouncements,” Shettima stated.
He pointed out that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Section 41 subsection 1 was very explicit on allowing Nigerians to reside in any part of the country without any hindrance whatsoever.
“But when you see a toad dancing in the broad daylight, the drummer is not far from the main road. So I wish to call on the security agencies to beam their lenses on these groups and unearth the faces behind the mask,” the governor added.
The northern governors insisted that they do not recognise the group which they described as “a bunch of groups that do not have the mandate of the people coming out to stick up the embers of division and disunity”.
“The governors of northern Nigeria are not in alignment with those people and we will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerian citizens living in any part of the north.
“I am in contact with most of my colleagues and they are all talking to security establishments in their respective doornails because we cannot afford to take chances.
“Among them, there is no even an elected councillor; they are nonentities gasping for breath for relevance for whatever reason but we can’t afford to toy with the destiny of this country.
“I wish to call on our brothers of Igbo descent to remain calm and go about pursuing their legitimate businesses. Nobody can dare to intimidate them, harass or dehumanise them,” Shettima told journalists on Wednesday.
