A coalition of Arewa Youth Groups which gave Igbos three months’ notice to quit northern Nigeria has reiterated that it’s call for Igbos to leave the region, was not a call to violence but to allow them to achieve their ambition of having the country.
The group says the call is not a call to violence but to allow them to achieve their ambition of having the country.
In a statement issued on Thursday in Kaduna State and signed by Abdulazeez Suleiman, spokesman of the group carpeted governors Nasir El Rufai and Kashim Shettima of Kaduna and Borno States respectively, on their stand against them, saying that the governors were driven by their ambitions to be Vice President.
He said the group was “nauseated” by the comments attributed to El Rufai and Shettima, describing them as “disgruntled northern political power Mongers”.
“We restate that we have never called anybody to violence and that people should discountenance the elements of fear and threat introduced by the distortions of merchants of mischief.
“We wholeheartedly endorse the moves made variously by our leaders to allay those fears and urge people to be peaceful and law-abiding while at the same time, we insist on having the right thing done by allowing the Igbos to have and move to their dream country in accordance with the universal fundamental right to self-determination.
“We restate our determination and commitment to ensuring that the North will never partake in any contrived arrangement that would still have the Biafran Igbo as a component.
“We reiterate our call on Nigerian authorities and recognise international bodies such as the ECOWAS, AU and UN to hasten the initiation of the process for the final actualization of the Biafran nation and with it the excision of the Igbos out of the present federation”.
Mr Abdulazeez Suleiman claimed that despite the “distortion” of their earlier statement, the feedback they got was that their message resonated with “peace-loving Nigerians who have been tormented and menaced by the irredentist proclivities of the Igbos and are overwhelmingly desirous to put an end to it”.
He said the group “is particularly disappointed by the treacherous positions assumed by Nasir Ahmed Elrufai and Kashim Shettima who in pursuit of their blind ambition for the Vice Presidency, chose to side with the secessionist Igbos against the interest of peace-loving Nigerians.
“It appears that characters like El-Rufai have no limit on how low they can fall in their inordinate desire to achieve their long-held dream of power grab at the expense of the peace, well-being and stability of our country.
“We would like to assure eEl-Rufai and his ilk’s that we shall continue to expose their recalcitrant treachery and opportunistic proclivities. We also assure them that the drive for a peaceful and prosperous Nigeria in which the Igbos are not partners, will be unabated” he said.