Tension as police begin action against signatories of quit notice issued to Igbos in north
- The Kaduna police has started manhunt for the Arewa youths that ordered Igbos out of the north
- The police insist every Nigerian is free to live in any part of the country
- The quit notice has generated reactions and stirred nationwide controversy
The police in Kaduna have launched a manhunt for Arewa youths who signed a declaration issuing a 90-day ultimatum to Igbos in the north to leave.
NAIJ.com had reported that a coalition of northern youths in what they tagged ‘Kaduna Declaration’ on Tuesday, June 6 ordered Igbos to vacate and return to the south east.
In response, Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Wednesday, June 7 ordered the arrest and prosecution of the signatories of the quit notice. “The Kaduna state government takes exception to the fact that the “northern youths” did their irresponsible press conference in Kaduna. This government has been consistent in taking action to punish hate speech and incitement. People who may feel unhappy about irresponsible comments or actions that have taken place in other states must know that two wrongs cannot make a right, and they cannot use our state to do or say things that threaten the peace."
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Vanguard reports that following the directive of the governor, the police in Kaduna launched a manhunt to arrest all those who signed the declaration.
Moshood Jimoh who is the police spokesperson in Kaduna said any Nigerian was free to live in any part of the country.
He said: “Kaduna state government has reacted promptly to the issue. We are also using this opportunity to warn anybody that wants to foment trouble to beware because we will deal decisively with such group or persons.”
Also, the national president of Ohanaeze Youth Foundation, Mr. Chukwuemeka Don Uba said the threat was an indication that Nigeria cannot continue to remain as one.
He said: “The threat for Igbo indigenes by some organized youth groups of the Northern part of Nigeria is an indication that this country can no longer be together as one entity.
“The South- Easterners had before now agitated for a sovereign State of Biafra, but never threatened the stay of the Northern indigenes resident in their area.
“In my own view they are being sponsored to give out this threat, bearing in mind that some Northern Elders recently claimed that, the oil blocks located mostly in the South-East and South- South parts of the country also belong to them since it in the Nigeria state of which they cited the constitution as the bases of their claims.”
Mr. Peter Ezeobi who is the Imo state chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance described the quit notice as unconstitutional.
He said: “It will lead to massacre of Ndigbo and intimidation of the Igbos in the north. It is unconstitutional and it is not acceptable anywhere in the world.
“The Igbo people have their assets in the north and they have helped to develop the north. There is no civil war, no threat and they are saying that the Igbos should leave the north.
“They do not have the right to do that I believe that the Arewa forum they have intellectuals and I believe they should be guided against making any statement that will lead to war. I see it as a primitive way of trying to resolve problems.”
Meanwhile, the governors of the south east held an emergency session following the issuance of a quit notice by northern youths to Igbos in the north.
The south east governors help an emergency meeting on Wednesday, June 7 to address the issue.
Chief Nnia Nwodo who is the president-general of the Ohaneze Ndigbo made this revelation during a night of tributes in honour of the late Ohanaeze chieftain and veteran Biafra soldier, Prof. Ben Obumselu.
Nwodo said it was the intervention of Governor Nasir El-Rufai that stopped the south east governors from sending luxurious buses to bring back their kinsmen
Watch a NAIJ.com TV video below of a retired army major speaking about the Niger Delta agitation and the Biafra issue