•Bagudu, Lalong promise to protect Igbo,‘corpers’

•As Uwazuruike, Al-Mustapha broker peace

By Our Reporters

More condemnations and outrage have continued to trail last week’s declaration by the Arewa Youth Group in Kaduna, wherein they issued October 1 ultimatum to the Igbo indigenes resident in the North to leave.

Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson, condemned in strong terms the so called quit notice. He said it was a shame that even after fighting a needless civil war some 50 years ago, “even with the relics and scars of the war still staring at our faces,’’ some people would deliberately build up hate against fellow Nigerians, similar to the build up to the civil war in 1967. He said all Nigerians are guaranteed, by the 1999 Constitution, to live in any place of their choice and pursue their daily bread without molestation.

The governor, who spoke in Lagos over the weekend in an interview with editors, said: ‘‘Breaking this country is not in the best interest of anybody or ethnic groups. Our strength as a country lies in our diversity and population. We are better off if we continue to live together as one people. This is why the Federal Government must urgently show leadership and deliberately reconcile all sections of this country and address legitimate questions. Only leadership can put to rest the tension and hate in this country.’’

While commending the Northern governors and their Eastern counterparts for rising in unison to condemn the quit notices and hate comments, Dickson said the Nigeria Governors Forum is worried about the state of the country and has consequently set up a committee, of which he is a member, to intervene and give hope to the Nigerians and resolve conflicts where ever they raise their ugly heads, including the farmers/herdsmen clashes, which he said was a major security threat.

Similarly, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State and his Plateau State counterpart, Simon Lalong, not only condemned the threat, but also vowed to protect the Igbo in their respective states in defence of the unity of Nigeria.

Governor Bagudu, while addressing batch A stream 1 of corps members at National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) permanent camp during the official closing ceremony of their three weeks orientation courses, described the quite notice as “unpatriotic and unguarded.”

In the same vein, Governor Lalong vowed to protect South-East corps members serving in the state.

He said: “Corps members posted to Plateau State from the South-East have no reason to panic over the quit notice by Arewa Youths; those threats are empty and illegal, nobody has the exclusive right to determine where someone will live in this country.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-East, in its reaction, urged Igbo living in the North to remain where they are.

In a statement made available to journalists in Enugu by the APC National Vice Chairman, South-East, Chief Emma Eneukwu, the party described the quit ultimatum issued to Igbo in the North as a ‘joke taken too far’.

“In our opinion, this call is a joke taken too far. It is an ill wind that blows no good to anyone. We urge all Igbo living in any part of Nigeria to go about their normal businesses without fear, but in loving disposition towards their neighbours and environment,” the statement said.

Students of tertiary institutions in the South-East and South-South zones under the umbrella of National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) came hard on the Northern Elders’ Forum, led by Ango Abdullahi, for supporting the divisive tendency of the exuberant youths.

Coordinator of NANS in the South-East and South-South, Mr. Pedro Obi, who spoke on behalf of others students in the two zones, while addressing newsmen in Asaba yesterday said “a restructured Nigeria will automatically put to rest the various agitations by all ethnic militia groups.”

Founder and Spiritual head of One Love Family, Sat Guru Maharaj, urged the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar to call the coalition of Arewa Youths groups to order.

“This quit order by Arewa youths is very unfortunate. It should be condemned in its entirety. It is very provocative and there in no basis for it, at all. I, hereby, call on the Sultan of Sokoto to call these youths to order. Nigeria belongs to all of us,” he declared.

Founder of John 3:16 Ministry, Aba, Abia State, and an ardent believer in the Biafra project, Bro. Samuel Ajayi urged Ndigbo in the North not to hesitate in returning to the East. He said their lives were worth more than N44 trillion investments given as reason that could make them not to leave the North. Also, National Association of Seadogs yesterday urged the Federal Government to avert an impending disaster following the threat of expulsion of the Igbo from the northern region.

National President of People’s Alliance Front (PAF), a socio-political youth association, Mr. Martins Apugo, said what the Igbo require in Nigeria is equity, justice and fairness and not necessarily secession.

A Niger Delta activist, Annkio Briggs, also condemned the spokesman of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Alhaji Ango Abdullahi, for allegedly supporting Northern youths on the quit notice given to Igbo people resident in the North.

This was even as a group called Niger Delta Self Determination Movement (NDSDM) condemned the position of the United Nations (UN)  on the quit notice by Northern youths to the South Easterners.

Regardless, President of Igbo Community in Birnin Kebbi, Chief Samuel Nnamani, said despite the quit notice, his people are at peace in Kebbi state.

Meanwhile, Chief Security Officer to late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-mustapha has called on the Federal and Kaduna State governments to reverse the arrest order of promoters of the controversial Kaduna declaration the Arewa youths.

He said even though the northern youth groups should be pardoned because they were only responding to earlier threat by those agitating for sovereign State of Biafra. This was coming even as a leader of Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike said Nnamdi Kanu was hijacked by politicians as a director of radio Biafra which he personally founded in London.

Uwazuruike said: “Crisis in Nigeria is being manipulated by politicians. We must not allow that; the country must continue to exist as one nation, but act to address issues of marginalisation. I handed over Radio Biafra, which I created, to Nnamdi Kanu in London and was hoping it would serve the purpose for which it was created, but I am disappointed that politicians hijacked him and it became something else,” he said

Speaking further, the MASSOB leader assured the Hausa’s in all the Eastern part of the country of their safety, while thanking Major Hamza Almustapha (rtd) for assuring same for the Igbo’s in the North.