*North is
ready to end unity in Nigeria’
The Pan
Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the umbrella group of the Niger Delta people,
have
described the quit notice by 16 Arewa youth groups in Kaduna to the Igbo as
grave.
It
considered the statement by the Arewa youths as tragic and more treasonable
than the offence allegedly committed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), for which he was held in detention for about a year.
A statement
yesterday by PANDEF signed by Dr. Alfred Mulade, a member of the central
working committee, stated that not only is the statement by the Arewa youths a
potent threat to the corporate unity of the country, but the most dangerous
statement ever made by any group to the unity and existence of Nigeria since
the end of the civil war.
Guardian reported that, The
statement read: “This statement by the Arewa youths, which strikes at the very
roots of the Nigeria we believe in, is, indeed, an attempt to divide and break
up the country whose unity is guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
“In
condemning this statement in its entirety, PANDEF calls on all northern state
governments, elders, particularly the Arewa Consultative Assembly in whose
House the press conference was held, not only to condemn it but to take
concrete steps to reassure the Igbo and indeed all Nigerians that they are free
to stay in the North without any form of molestations.
“PANDEF
insists that this call by Arewa youths must be nipped in the bud, and the
Federal Government should, as in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, arrest, detain and
prosecute them for treasonable felony with immediate effect. In this matter of
threat to the corporate existence of Nigeria, there must be no sacred cows.
“Whilst we
do not support Nnamdi Kanu, and the various secessionist organisations in the
South-East for reviving the call for Biafra; and whilst we have to restate that
the South-South is not part of the said Biafra, we take the view that this
regrettably dangerous statement by the northern youths is unwittingly lending
profound support to the demands of the Biafran agitators, which is totally
unacceptable to any patriotic Nigerian, and a flagrant violation of the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Similarly,
the Ijaw People Development Initiative (IPDI) said the ultimatum given to the
Igbo was North’s intention to end Nigeria’s marriage.
The National
President of IPDI, Mr. Austin Ozobo, said: “We want to laud the North for its
readiness for the dissolution of the false marriage call Nigeria. However, if
they fail to disintegrate as declared, we shall refer to them as cowards and
mental unstable people. The Igbo and other Niger Deltans should kindly evacuate
the North before October 1. Biafra and Niger Delta agitations are unstoppable.
Nigeria has grown beyond keeping its unity through force.”
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