The Pan-Niger Delta
Forum, PANDEF, umbrella body of the Niger Delta elders, Wednesday, stated that
the ultimatum by Arewa youth groups on Igbos to vacate the North by October is
more treasonable than the offence allegedly committed by Nnamdi Kanu of the
Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
PANDEF in a statement
by a member of the Central Working Committee, CWC, Dr. Alfred Mulade, said the
call was wrong and that those behind it should be arrested and prosecuted
without delay.
Mulade said, “We insist
that this call by Arewa youths must be nipped in the bud, and the Federal
Government should, as in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, arrest, detain and prosecute
them for treasonable felony, with immediate effect. In this matter of threat to
the corporate existence of Nigeria, there must be no sacred cows.
“PANDEF considers this
statement by the Arewa Youths as tragic as and more treasonable than the
offence allegedly committed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, for which he
was held in detention for about a year.
“Not only is this
statement a potent threat to the corporate unity of the country, but in our
view, appears the most dangerous statement ever made by any group to the unity
and existence of Nigeria since the end of the civil war.”
“We must not forget how
we came into the civil war that lasted for 30 months, and the avoidable
calamities it wrought on our country. 50 years thereafter now, things have
changed a great deal. Loyalties and commitments should be total of all
Nigerians to a Nigeria where all Nigerians are free to stay in any part of the
country, free from any form of molestation and discrimination, a Nigeria where
we are all each other’s brother’s keeper, in a Nigeria where no one is superior
to the other, and where no one threatens to drive any other group of Nigerians
away from any part of the country,” the group added.
“This statement by the
Arewa Youths which strikes at the very roots of the Nigeria we believe in, is,
indeed, an attempt to divide and breakup the country, whose unity is guaranteed
by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, it added.
PANDEF further called
on all northern state governments, elders, particularly the Arewa Consultative
Assembly in whose House the press conference was held to take concrete steps to
reassure the Ibos and indeed, all Nigerians that they were free to stay in the North
without any form of molestations.
The group added,
“Whilst we do not support Nnamdi Kanu, and the various secessionist
organizations in the South-East, for reviving the call for Biafra; and whilst
we have to restate that the South- South is not part of the said Biafra, we
take the view that this regrettably dangerous statement by the northern youths,
is unwittingly lending profound support to the demands of the Biafran
agitators, which is totally unacceptable to any patriotic Nigerian, and a
flagrant violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We recall the
Statement we made as PANDEF a few days ago, concerning the Biafra sit-at-home
call, and widely reported in the media to the effect that the success recorded
by the Biafra sit-at-home call, as reported by various news media, is a clear
indication that all is not well in our Country… Biafra is born out of a
deep-seated and agonizing feeling of marginalization and discrimination.
“So, as has been
advised, let us listen to the Ibos and the Biafra agitators. We listen to them
knowing that there is no harm in discussing the unity of Nigeria; we listen to
them with the clear understanding that Nigeria is better off united and that
disintegration is not in anyone’s interest,” PANDEF added.
It declared: “We stand
by this patriotic statement. We will be moving into a state of anarchy and
disintegration, if the unfortunate and misguided statement by the Arewa Youths
is not withdrawn, and Federal Government does not take action by apprehending
and prosecuting these youth and their sponsors.”
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