- We did not advocate violence against Igbo – Yerima
The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum has insisted that Igbo residing in the Northern part of the country should leave the region by October 1, 2017.
The AYCF, however, stressed that contrary to the misconception now surrounding the declaration by the Northern youth groups, they never recommended that any resistance or violation of the quit notice by the Igbo should be met with violence.
The group also lambasted the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, for ordering the arrest of the members of the Northern youth groups, who made the declaration, daring him to make good his threat.
Since they claim to have their own republic, they should go
Some Northern youth groups had, on Tuesday, is sued a threemonth ultimatum to people of Igbo extraction, living in the 19 states in the region, to leave or be forced out before October 1, 2017.
But AYCF National President, Alhaji Shetima Yerima, who spoke with our correspondent on the phone, said that although the Northern youth groups issued the quit notice to the Igbo in their region, their position on the matter had not espoused any form of violence against anyone or group of people residing in the North.
Yerima stated that the Northern youth groups decided to give the Igbo in the North the quit notice because a particular section should not be allowed to continue to hold the rest of the country to ransom by their incessant threats to break away from the rest of Nigeria. He said that rather harassing and threatening the rest of the country at all times, the Igbo should quit the Nigerian Federation in a peaceful manner.
The AYCF national president added that since the Igbo claimed that they already had a country of their own, the Northern youth groups felt it would be better to tell them to leave the nation by October 1, when the Nigeria would celebrate its independence anniversary.
Yerima said, “I have never been violent, and the coalition didn’t talk about violence against the Igbo people, but we gave them a quite notice because somebody who does not believe that Nigeria should be together should be allowed to be on his own.
They don’t believe there is hope for this country, and often times when issues come up, instead of dialoguing, they declare a republic of their own within the context of Nigeria as a country.
“So, for us, we believe that you cannot have a wife and the wife will be threatening you she wants to go, allow her to go. If they don’t have hope in Nigeria, let them go peacefully without disturbing anybody. We are not violent like them. The only thing we said was that, fine if you are going, from now till 1st October, when we have our own independence day, they should go. Since they claim to have their own republic, they should go, nothing more than that.
He, however, expressed disappointment with Governor El-Rufai over his reaction to the quit notice given the Igbo by the Northern youth groups.
Yerima said that El-Rufai had been hasty in ordering the arrest of the members of the Northern youth groups without first doing his own findings before setting the police after them.
He described the Kaduna governor’s reaction to the Northern youth groups as unbecoming of a true leader of a state in the region, who had the interest of his people at heart.
“In the case of El-Rufai, he cannot intimidate people like me, I am not a coward. It cannot be more than going to court. He has proved to us that he is not a true son of the North. He has proved to us that he doesn’t have the North at the back of his mind. If he did, he won’t be doing all this.
Imagine, when others are looking at a situation where they can give support to their people, and ensure that the whole thing will not be violent and out of law, but you, without looking at the case twice or looking at it from another angle, you declared them wanted.
“He’s only going to be there for the next two years, and after the two years, there will be an election. Let us see how he will come back and continue to use law enforcers to intimidate people,” he said.
