The Federal Government urged Igbo and other Nigerians to ignore the notice and go about their normal activities just as Governors of the 19 northern states disowned the Arewa youths, assuring that they have put measures in place to ensure there is no break-down of law and order.
Outrage, yesterday, greeted the ultimatum given by some Arewa youth groups to the Igbo to quit northern parts of the country within three months or be forced to do so.
In strong terms, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai; Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF; Ohanaeze Ndigbo; and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB among others, condemned the statement by 16 Arewa youth groups with Governor El-Rufai calling for their arrests as ACF stated that the groups had no right to issue such a statement.
The National President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, had handed down the ultimatum at a well-attended press conference held at the Arewa House, Kaduna, on Tuesday. The ultimatum followed a successful sit-at-home order enforced by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB on May 30, 2017, which the five South-East states complied with. The text of the press conference was jointly signed by Nastura Ashir Sharif (Arewa Citizens Action for Change); Alhaji Shettima Yerima (Arewa Youth Consultative Forum); Aminu Adam (Arewa Youth Development Foundation); Alfred Solomon, (Arewa Students Forum); Abdul-Azeez Suleiman (Northern Emancipation Network), as well as Joshua Viashman (Northern Youth Vanguard).
The National President of the Northern Emancipation Network, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who read the text of the press conference, noted that the Igbo had become a threat to national unity and their quit order was necessitated by the Igbo persistence in the actualisation of Biafra, saying this had led to the impediment of other people’s rights in the South-East by ‘’the Indigenous People of Biafra and its overt and covert sponsors.’’
Suleiman said: “With the effective date of this declaration, which is today, Tuesday, June 6, 2017, all Igbo currently residing in any part of northern Nigeria are, hereby, served notice to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in the South-East are advised likewise. “All northern civil societies and pressure groups are, by this declaration, mandated to mobilise for sustained, coordinated campaigns at their respective state Government Houses, state Houses of Assembly, local government council secretariats and traditional palaces.
“Our first major move shall be to reclaim, assume and assert sole ownership and control of these landed resources currently owned, rented or in any way enjoyed by the …Igbo in any part of Northern Nigeria.” Ignore ultimatum, security agencies on red alert – FG Formally reacting to the quit notice, the Federal Government through Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, urged the Igbo and other Nigerians to go about their businesses without fear of molestation.
In a statement signed by his Press Secretary, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo, the minister “lamented the spate of such spurious and unwarranted calls for separation. He, therefore, called on all well-meaning Nigerians to go about their normal activities as
Government would bring to bear the full weight of the law on any individual or group violating the rights of citizens of the Country. He added that citizens were free to go about their normal businesses and would not be harassed or deterred by any group or persons.”
He further advised “the various ethnic groups to desist from flaming the embers of hate, animosity, discord and disharmony and adhere strictly to the teachings of our good values of religions and cultures that encourage good neighbourliness, national unity and Integration, and love for one another. The Federal Government also said security agencies were already on the alert over the threat.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this while answering questions from State House correspondents after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Mohammed assured Nigerians that security agencies were on top of the matter, adding that the statement was capable of destabilising the country. Observing that such development did not start now, he said: “What I want to assure you is that security organisations are very very much on top of this matter.” When asked whether the issue of the ultimatum came up for discussion during the FEC meeting, the minister said it did not come up.
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