A group of Northern youth and Igbo groups on Friday, August 4, 2017, began a “peace meeting” in Kano over the pre-genocide quit notice given to Igbos by a group of Arewa youth in reaction to agitations for session by pro-Biafra activists.
Both parties are working to form a committee to bring to an end the lingering agitation between the Igbo and the northern groups.
Representatives of the Igbo in all northern states are at the meeting along with leaders of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF).
President of the AYCF, Yerima Shettima blamed the quit notice on the activities of Nnamdi Kanu and his supporters.
“It is on record that we have been at peace with the Igbo for decades until when this young man (Kanu) came demanding war, demanding arms. In the struggle, he is a small boy, but we want peace,” he said.
According to the Igbo leaders, both youths have the right to be angry due to the lack of employment in Nigeria.
They, however, warned that both Igbo and Northern youth should avoid trying to fix the country through violence.
“Anyone championing the division of Nigeria will never go anywhere,” the Eze Ndi Igbo, Kano, Boniface Ibekwe, said.
“We cannot allow someone to divide us. Even if you are angry, we must find a way to end this. And the sooner we end it, the better it becomes for both of us,” Eze Ibekwe admonished.
The meeting had started in a tensed atmosphere but after arguments and counter-arguments, the talks have taken a positive turn.
There are strong indications that the Northern coalition groups may suspend quit notice given to the Igbo during the Kaduna declaration.
Leave The North By October 1 – Arewa Groups Warn Igbos
A coalition of prominent groups in Northern Nigeria on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 issued an ultimatum to Igbos living in the north to return home by October 1, 2017 or else they will face a situation similar to the pre-civil war pogroms visited on their kin in the 1960s.
The order was contained in an error-ridden statement, obtained by The Trent, issued after a meeting in Kaduna State. The groups, Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum, and the Northern Emancipation Network, asked the Igbo residing in the region to “start making plans to leave.”
The chilling statement condemned the renewed call for the independent republic of Biafra and also expressed disdain for the Igbos and their culture saying that “the Igbo people of the South-East, not repentant of the carnage it wrought on the nation in 1966, is today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history”.
In 1966, the Igbos were the victims of the largest genocide in Nigeria’s history with over 100,000 of them killed in Northern Nigeria by northern mobs. This pogrom led to the declaration of the Republic of Biafra which led to the Nigerian civil war in which over 3 million Igbos died.
The northern groups’ threat to Igbos is now widely referred to as the Kaduna Declaration and has been widely condemned by public officials and political groups. However, it has also received wide support from northern elements like Professor Abdullahi.
Hattip to Channels TV
