A new
twist emerged in the October 1, 2017 quit notice handed down to Igbo
living in the North, yesterday, as Arewa youths pleaded with the Federal
Government to arrange a plebiscite, which would allow the South-east
have Biafra Republic.
Leaders of Arewa Citizens Action for
Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development
Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network, in a
letter dated June 19, 2017 and signed by Shettima Yerima, Joshua
Viashman, Aminu Adam, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman and Nastura Ashir Sharif, and
addressed to Acting President Yemi osinbajo, said Federal Government
should allow a peaceful process that would excise the South-east from
the federation.
“While we do not see this clamour for Biafra as an issue over which a single drop of blood should be shed, we,
at the same time, insist that the Igbo be allowed to have their Biafra
and for them to vacate our land peacefully so that our dear country
Nigeria could finally enjoy lasting peace and stability,” the coalition
said.
The letter read further:
“Concerned by the fact that the Biafrans have confessed to arming themselves for a violent breakup, we
feel that it is risky for the rest of the country, particularly the
North, to go on pretending that it is safe for us to cohabitate with the
Igbo given how deeply they are entrenched in our societies.
“And, since evidently, the Igbo have not
been sufficiently humbled by their self-imposed bloody civil violence of
1966, we are strongly concerned that nothing short of granting their
Biafran dream will suffice.
“And, since the Igbo have virtually
infiltrated every nook and cranny of Northern Nigeria where they have
been received with open arms, as fellow compatriots, we strongly believe
that the region is no longer safe and secure in the light of the
unfolding threats and the fact that for a long time, the Igbo have gone
to extraordinary length to ensure that in their domain in the South
East, northerners and westerners are as much as possible disenfranchised
from owning any businesses whereas, in Kano alone, they own not less than 100,000 shops across all the business districts.
“That, since the younger generation of
Nigerians makes up for more than 60 percent of the nation’s population,
it is our hope that they inherit this country in better shape so that
they can build a much better future for themselves and their offspring
in an atmosphere that is devoid of anarchy, hate, suspicion and negativity that characterise the polarised, and clearly irreconcilliable differences forced on us by the Biafran Igbo.
“To make a bad situation even worse,
their leaders have continued to show support for this treacherous cause
and, thus, giving credence to our concern that what they say against us
is what they truly mean and intend – ‘kill everyone in the zoo’
(North).”
The Arewa youths said they could not
afford to discard the threat as mere mischief as the utterances that
caused the Rwandan genocide was still fresh in the mind.
The youths said while they are not waging
war or calling anyone to violence, they averred they were, also, not
willing to continue tolerating the “malicious campaign and threats of
war that the Igbo have continued to wage against us.
“Neither can we afford to continue giving
the keys to our cities to a people whose utterances, plans and
arrangements are clearly geared towards war and anarchy.
“We, therefore, demand that the only
enduring solution to this scourge that is being visited on the nation is
complete separation of the states presently agitating for Biafra from
the Federal Republic of Nigeria through a peaceful political process by:
“Taking steps to facilitate the
actualisation of the Biafran nation in line with the principle of
self-determination as an integral part of contemporary customary
international law.
“The principle of self-determination has,
since World War II become a part of the United Nations Charter which
states in Article 1(2), that one of the purposes of the UN is ‘to
develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the
principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.
By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi & Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye
