₦airaland Forum

THE Governor of Plateau State, Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong, has approved the dissolution of the existing Local Government Transition Committees with immediate effect.

A statement issued by the State’s Director of Press and Public Affairs, Emmanuel Nanle, said the Chairmen and Management Committee Members are to immediately hand over the running of affairs of the Local Government Councils to the Directors of Personnel Management pending further actions in line with the provision of law.

The statement said: “It will be recalled that the Executive Governor had in exercise of his Powers under the Edict providing for the establishment and administration of the Local Government Councils 2005 as Amended and subject to the ratification of the House of Assembly constituted the Management Committees whose tenure expired by effluxion of time on the 28th of June, 2017.




“The Executive Governor wishes to express his profound appreciation to all members of the dissolved Council Management Committees for their selfless service in the two years of their stewardship. He further wished them the best in all their endeavours and urges them to be available in the future for service when called upon.”

ABULRAZAK Namdas, spokesperson of the house of representatives, says the national assembly intervened in the 2017 budget proposal sent by the executive to carry every region along.

Babatunde Fashola, minister of works, power and housing, had in an interview, said some provisions of the budget violated the constitution.

Responding, the senate and house of representatives accused the minister of spreading half-truths.



In a statement on Wednesday, Namdas said Fashola should know that the national assembly is made up of members from all the geopolitical zones of the country who represent their peoples’ interest.

The spokesman said the lawmakers could not watch the country’s “patrimony unfairly skewed to one region or a few regions to the detriment of other states and geo-political zones”.

“We need to remind Mr. Fashola that the national assembly is a national institution made up of members from all geo-political zones, they represent all tendencies, interests and ethnic nationalities.

“It has a responsibility also to ensure balance in the distribution of road projects and other developmental facilities.



“The proposal from Mr. President on the 2017 budget of the ministry of works, power and housing did not pass this test! This partly informed the intervention of National Assembly so that every region can be carried along in project allocation.”

THE Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Maydon Pharmaceutical Company, Ilupeju, Lagos State, Chief Donatus Dunu, has said his life is now in more danger with the release of the informant who allegedly assisted in his kidnap.

Dunu was kidnapped by billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans, allegedly with information from one of the managers of his company, Emeka Egbulugha.

He parted with $1.2 million before he escaped.

This was after he had been told he would be “bathed”, which Dunu said meant “to be killed by a river side”.

On his release, Dunu, a billionaire, told the police that Egbulugha was one of those who plotted his kidnap.

He said he saw him at the location he was kept in the kidnappers’ den in Igando area of Lagos State.



But Egbulugha denied this.

Based on the report by Dunu, the police picked up Egbulugha and he was arraigned before a court in Lagos State shortly after the arrest of Onwuamadike.

But the court granted Egbulugha bail.

This has prompted an outcry from Dunu, who said his life is now in danger.

Dunu, who gave vivid description of what transpired in the kidnappers’ den, told newsmen: “Nobody should have allowed those suspected workers in my company to be granted bail in any manner or guise because I have evidence of the active participation of particularly Emeka, my pharmacist, in the deadly operation and releasing him has worsened my plight as I and members of my family now live in perpetual fear of our lives.

“Why should police release Emeka, the chief accomplice in my kidnap? I not only heard his voice while in captivity, having being with him since 2003, but saw him there few days after the kidnap. He came asking them where I was kept. When they showed him, he opened the door where they kept me in chains and our eyes met. Though I was blindfolded, I was about eating when I heard his voice and I normally remove the blind. That was how I saw him and I had the greatest shock of my life.

“He was always there with my abductors. His voice is unmistakable to me having stayed with him for many years. The man in charge of the den, Uche, whom he claims he does not know, speaks the same dialect with him. He is the person Emeka meets each time he visited. There was also another member of the gang who speaks Abakiliki dialect and I don’t know whether those in police net have confessed his whereabouts to the police.



“I have a strong feeling that the manager of the den, Uche, and Emeka are from the same town because they speak the same dialect. Those guarding me were initially two, but when the Abakiliki man travelled on Easter Monday, they brought another person to replace him. That one is very sick because he was coughing constantly. I knew that the Abakiliki man travelled because I heard Emeka discussing with Uche, asking whether he had travelled and Uche said yes.

“That same Easter Monday, I overheard Emeka and Uche saying: ‘We will kill him. We have no alternative, but until Chairman comes back.’ Two weeks after this, Chairman came back and I knew whenever he visited because they will shut all the doors and switch on the generator, perhaps to stifle their discussions. His visit did not last for more than 10 minutes. That same night, the Abakiliki man brought Indomie for my dinner. He told me to eat so that I will have enough energy to face ‘us at the canal’. They later told me that canal is where they use to ‘bath’ their captives and I concluded that it means where they kill their victims. They trumpet this daily.

“I was made to understand that the Abakiliki man is the one that will kill me if chairman gives the order. That was when I realised that the killing they were discussing with Emeka was about to take place. Earlier, I thought that the killing they were discussing must be probably another person. But after this canal discussion, I now knew that I was their target. After that, I overheard Emeka again, about two weeks later, discussing with Uche, saying: ‘If they want to kill him, they should kill him. In fact, kill him.’ Then, their last discussion was on Wednesday before my escape on Friday. I heard Emeka again asking whether they have killed me. They said no, it was going to be Friday night. That was when I concluded that it was all over.

“I have never had issues with Emeka. The only thing was that I suspected that he and some of my boys were stealing goods from my warehouse and I made changes, which I suspect did not favour him. I strongly suspect that this must be his motive to connive with those kidnappers. In fact, before my abduction, we had a meeting with a foreign partner and I remember vividly that during one of my telephone conversations with their Chairman, whom I suspect is Evans, he asked me who the two ladies in my office were the same day I was kidnapped. Emeka came to the office that same day and those ladies were with me. Why did the chairman ask that question? Who told him that I was with two ladies in my office? These are the unanswered questions and police should have asked these questions.

“Secondly, my abductors told me that they have a group picture of my staff, which we took last January. We use to meet every January and all the sales representatives, including Emeka, attend. They also claimed they went to take inventory of the goods in my warehouse. Yes, they did, but we are still auditing to know whether goods were missing or not. Even an account opening document was found in Emeka’s official car before he was taken to the anti-kidnapping unit after his arrest. Emeka was the only visitor that came to the den while I was there. He is not an ordinary friend to those guarding me.

“I feel so bad that police allowed court to set him free, thereby endangering my life. I don’t think the police carried out thorough investigation after the so-called identification parade, which was simply a charade. Even if the court had course to grant him bail, the police know how to go about such cases by re-arresting him until they carry out diligent investigation. I am, therefore, calling on police authorities to do the needful by re-arresting Emeka and investigating him thoroughly.”

A civil rights organisation, Campaign Against Military Impunity, has raised the alarm over alleged recruitment scandal in the Nigerian Air Force.

The organisation alleged that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, had compromised standards in the recruitment exercise for Non-Commissioned Officers from the core North.

Presently at the Air Force Base in Kaduna, there is said to be ongoing pre-training formalities and tests for successful recruits, where 80 per cent of them are Northerners, CAMI alleged.

The Executive Director of CAMI, Victor Coker, told journalists in Abuja that the government should carry out an audit of the exercise and courses going on in all the military training institutions.

Coker said: “To unravel this misnomer, there should be an audit of the courses going on in all the training institutions.

“The audit should look at the composition and last three batches of those in training.

“They were supposed to take 68 persons in each state, but after the normal recruitment, the Chief of Air Staff now brought over 2,000 names spread across the core Northern States.



“Out of this figure, only 30/40 was given to the South.

“This is not the first time it is happening.

“Such things have been done in the Department of State Services, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and even the police, Army and the Navy.

“We keep on preaching One Nigeria, One Nigeria.

“But behind the empty slogan of One Nigeria lies bare-faced hypocrisy and grand design to sentence part of the country to perpetual slavery.”

According to Coker, Northerners have been so smart to shortchange the entire South even during previous population census exercises conducted by the National Population Commission.

He said: “How can the desert be more populated than the tropical rain forest?

“This was how the population census was done before independence.”

But when contacted, the Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, denied the allegation.

Adesanya said: “I think it is most advisable that the list of the people recruited should be made public first.



“Then, those making the claims can painstakingly go through the list.

“If there is any state that is not fairly represented, then let them raise the alarm, rather than be speculating.

“A list is not yet out, yet people are speculating that the North has been favoured.

“Don’t forget that each state should be fairly represented.

“If you have certified people and everybody in a state are not medically qualified, are you going to disregard everybody in that state?

“We operate with the highest standards and we do not compromise on standard, either medical, physical or academic.”

Recently, Harold Smith, one of the architects of colonial foundation that midwifed Nigeria’s independence in 1960, confessed how the census was manipulated to favour the North.

Smith was said to have confessed during a programme on Ben TV what went behind the scene before the independence.

The Oxford University graduate said: “I am in my 80s now; I have agreed but in the past they did not want me to say anything, but now I don’t want to go to my grave without telling the truth about the atrocities perpetrated in Africa by the colonialists.

“Our agenda was to completely exploit Africa. Nigeria was my duty post. When we assessed Nigeria, this was what we found in the southern region; strength, intelligence, determination to succeed, well established history, complex but focused life style, great hope and aspirations.

“The East was good in business and technology, the West was good in administration and commerce, law and medicine. But it was a pity we planned our agenda to give power at all cost to the Northerner.”

ABUBAKAR Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram Islamist sect, in a 17-minute new video said they abducted the policewomen in Borno State last week for the women to become their slaves.

Female police officers were kidnapped after Boko Haram fighters attacked a convoy of security personnel in the Damboa area of Borno last week.

The officers were going to a burial in Adamawa State when the unfortunate incident happened.



In the video, Shekau criticised the military for saying Boko Haram has been defeated.

“I want to tell you that we were the ones that attacked the convoy, here are the vehicles for all to witness, we are the ones that abducted the female police officers, in fact, they are senior female police officers,” he said.


“What we did is nothing when compared to our women, children, and friends that have been wiped out or arrested for many years by the Nigerian government. We only abducted them to serve as slaves to us.”

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OHANAEZE Ndigbo, the apex Igbo group in the country, has said the push for self-determination by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) does not mean the Igbo want to secede from Nigeria.

He said the agitations were fuelled by a sense of marginalisation.

Chuks Ibegbu, deputy publicity secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said this in reaction to the open letter written to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo by the Arewa youth, containing a renewed call to allow the Igbo “have their Biafra”.

But the Ohanaeze mouthpiece said Igbo leaders will not be drawn into taking issue with a coalition of Arewa youth who want to drag the country into another war.



He said that Igbo leaders have chosen to “abide” by the counsel of the acting president to give room for peace to reign.

“In the first place, I want to thank the Acting President for the role he is playing in this situation. He is a peacemaker and he has shown himself to be conversant with the dynamics of leadership,” Ibegbu told Punch Newspaper

“The Acting President has told all the parties to allow peace to reign. Igbo are peaceful people; so, we will abide by what he said.

“We are conscious of what the Acting President told the Igbo leaders and the traditional rulers when they visited the Presidential Villa. Therefore, we will not be drawn into taking issue with these northern youths; they are people who have shown themselves to be lawbreakers and warmongers.

“The activities of these Arewa youths have shown that there is more than meets the eye to the ultimatum they gave the Igbo in the North. They simply want to drag the country into another war.

“That some individuals are pushing for self-determination in the South-East does not mean that the Igbo want to secede. The real situation is a protest against marginalisation.

Furthermore, he urged the northern youths to devote their attention to solving the problem of their own agitators – Boko Haram.

“We should not forget that even now, as we speak, the Boko Haram sect is still canvassing Islamic rule in the North, using violent means – that is a form of agitation for secession.

“So why should the northern youths ignore the log in their eyes to bother about the speck in another person’s eyes; why the venom against the Igbo?”

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AS Lydia Pogu and Joy Bishara slept in their beds on the night of April 14, 2014, terrorists were hurtling toward their boarding school in the Nigerian town of Chibok.

The girls, both teenagers in their senior year of high school, were resting after a festive evening — dinner, dancing, playing the drums, “just having fun,” Joy tells PEOPLE.

Suddenly two men burst into the school, claiming to be soldiers who would protect the girls. Frightened, the girls did as they were told, gathering into a group. Then more men arrived, firing guns into the air and shouting, “Allahu akbar!” (“God is great” in Arabic.) The girls recognized it as the battle cry of Boko Haram, the terrorist group that has killed thousands of Nigerians in recent years in a bid to create an Islamic state and wipe out Western education from schools.

“I was thinking, ‘Am I ever going to see my mom again?’ ” says Joy.

Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls that night, threatening to sell them as slaves. The news rocketed around the world, sparking the viral hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls.” A few dozen girls managed to escape. In recent months, more than 100 girls have been set free as a result of government negotiations with Boko Haram, but more than 100 girls remain missing.



On the night of the attack, the terrorists torched the school, then ordered the girls to march down a dusty back road and pile into open-air trucks. Joy’s truck was so high off the ground, she recalls, she had to use a small car as step-up to get in.

As the trucks roared off into the night, the terrified girls frantically discussed jumping. Lydia recalls a friend saying it was better to take the risk than to disappear forever — right before she jumped. Lydia prayed, then followed her friend, landing hard on the ground, a searing pain in her hips as she scrambled up and headed blindly into the thick, thorny bushes, with her friend. “We ran and ran,” she says.

Joy was debating whether to jump as well. She heard a girl say it would be better to die there—at least their parents would find a corpse. She felt a surge of courage: She could do this. Then she looked down at the ground far below. “Something is like, ‘Joy, you cannot. And I’m like yes I can.’ ” She leapt, landing on her stomach in a cloud of dust from the dirt road, before catching her breath and fleeing with two of her classmates into the brush.

After that, they just kept running. Lydia and her friend were covered in blood from thorns, their clothes torn. They came upon a village where people had spent the night hiding in the bushes, fearing their homes would be burned, as Boko Haram had been there just hours before. The villagers pointed the girls toward home and told them to “run in a zigzag,” says Lydia, because it would be harder for anyone to shoot them.

Meanwhile, Joy and her two classmates—exhausted and afraid to stop, especially now in daylight—had found a road, where they encountered a man on a motorcycle. “We ask him to please take us back home. He ask, ‘Who are you?’ We were scared. We don’t want to tell,” says Joy, who ultimately confided in the man, and he took them home. Lydia and her friend lucked out as well, coming to a road and stopping a man who drove them back to Chibok.



Over the next few months, they worried that Boko Haram would come back to get them — sometimes sleeping outside where they felt it would be easier to hide. When they heard about an opportunity to finish school in America, they didn’t hesitate.

With help from a human rights group in Virginia, the Jubilee Campaign, they came to the U.S. in August 2014. After attending boarding school for two years in Virginia, they transferred last summer to the Canyonville Christian Academy, a scenic boarding school in Oregon surrounded by soaring redwoods and pines. “They kept our tutors busy and worked nonstop,” says Doug Wead, president of the academy. “When they encountered scary new challenges, they kept jumping off that truck.”

During her emotional graduation speech, Joy said, “I forgive the people who hurt me. I have nothing against them. I am praying for the return of my classmates to their parents.”

THE Federal Government has blamed the downturn of the economy as reason why it failed to create the three million jobs it promised.

Speaking on behalf of the government is the minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, in an interview with Sun Newspaper.

Ngige also blamed corruption as being responsible, stating that with corruption it was impossible to create jobs.

“…if you have corruption, you cannot have resources to create jobs. Job creation to be specific is a multi-faceted; multi-sectoral affair involving all strata of the economic chain of the country,” he said.



Ngige said the government choosed to diversify the economy because “with the drop in revenue, we have to fight for our lives, we fought for the economic life of the Nigerian people, what do we do, we now said diversify into agriculture and mining. Jobs were created from mining, jobs were created from agriculture because those farmers you see have created jobs for themselves, they created jobs for some of their children who cannot get jobs, they have created jobs for their daughters and wives and so they became the blue collar job people.”

He also stressed that if not for the government’s intervention, the sack of workers in the private sector would have been much more than what it is now.

THE Federal Government has blamed the downturn of the economy as reason why it failed to create the three million jobs it promised.

Speaking on behalf of the government is the minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, in an interview with Sun Newspaper.

Ngige also blamed corruption as being responsible, stating that with corruption it was impossible to create jobs.

“…if you have corruption, you cannot have resources to create jobs. Job creation to be specific is a multi-faceted; multi-sectoral affair involving all strata of the economic chain of the country,” he said.

Ngige said the government choosed to diversify the economy because “with the drop in revenue, we have to fight for our lives, we fought for the economic life of the Nigerian people, what do we do, we now said diversify into agriculture and mining. Jobs were created from mining, jobs were created from agriculture because those farmers you see have created jobs for themselves, they created jobs for some of their children who cannot get jobs, they have created jobs for their daughters and wives and so they became the blue collar job people.”

He also stressed that if not for the government’s intervention, the sack of workers in the private sector would have been much more than what it is now.

Professor Ango Abdullahi.
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THE Northern Elders’ Forum on Friday expressed support for the call by the Coalition of Northern Youth Groups for Igbos to leave the region within three months.

The forum expressed “disappointment” with the Northern Governors’ Forum for disowning the youth groups.

Prof. Ango Abdullahi, the NEF spokesperson, told newsmen in Zaria, Kaduna State on Friday that it was hypocritical for the Igbos to continue to live in other parts of the country while agitating for Nigeria’s break up.

Abdullahi said: “I am disappointed in the decision taken by Northern Governors’ Forum disowning and condemning the agitation by this young agile and progressive youth groups.

“Let me ask: these Northern governors, whom are they representing? Are they representing spirits, ghost or people of the North?

“Recently, people from eastern part of this country, specifically Igbo, were busy calling for the Sovereign State of Biafra and from all indication their leaders, including governors, are behind them.”



According to Abdullahi, whoever feels Nigeria “is not conducive for him” should quit, adding that what the northern youth groups did was not a sin.
He lamented that none of the Northern governors reacted to the persistent call for the actualisation of Biafra and other agitations.

ALSO READ: Ohanaeze Ndigbo: If North Is Rejecting Restructuring, We Will Reject 1979 And 1999 Constitutions
The spokesman said when Nnamdi Kanu was released on bail recently, over 100 vehicles escorted him to his residence, including big personalities from the South West and South East.

Abdullahi said: “This is somebody who has been agitating for the breakup of Nigeria, but his people were behind him, therefore, I am behind the youths.

“This is because the Northern youths are pushed to the wall; we have been calming them down in any event similar to this.”

Speaking specifically on the Igbos, Abdullahi said the people from the south were always pretending that people from the north were cheating them.

He said: “These people always pretend that the North is cheating them, not minding the fact that Southern Nigeria was developed by resources from the North.

“Please, look for a book written by Adamu FiKa, the Waziri of FiKa on Nigeria’s budget before and after independence.

“Each year, up to the time Nigeria gained its independence, none of the two regions was able to provide for itself.



ALSO READ: Trump To Sell 12 Attack Planes To Nigeria For Boko Haram
“I mean none of the Western and Eastern regions had the money to effectively run the affairs of its region until they get financial support from the Northern region.”

Abduhhahi recalled that the tradition had remained during the colonial masters and nothing changed after they left the country.

He said it was the same money from the North that was used to construct Nigerian Railways, refineries and other facilities.

He disclosed: “First oil exploration was conducted using money from groundnut pyramid, cotton, hide and skin among other cash crops from Northern Nigeria.

“However, these people tend to forget all these goodies provided by the North toward ensuring the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria.

“They always look down on us, feeling that Northerners are parasites in this country.”

Meanwhile a coalition of Southern youths has ordered Arewa Extraction residing in the Southern parts of the country to return to its region also giving a deadline of three months as ultimatum.

THE coalition of youth leaders of the south and middle belt has also issued an ultimatum to Indigens of Arewa Extraction residing in the region.

Their action is said to be a reaction to their Northern counterpart which ordered all Igbos out of it region.

The youths coalition in a statement to news men, titled “Ogbedere Declaration” was signed by five representatives from the regions, has Bathe Oluwole for South-West, Ambowei Thomas for Niger Delta, Joseph Ntom for Middlebelt, Damian Anyanwu for South-East, and Effiong James for Ibibio/Efik youths.

They ordered all “core arewa persons that have appropriated the oil and gas wealth in the south since 1970 should quit the oil fields of southern nigeria within three months in their own interest.



“All security agents of arewa extraction in the south and middle belt should quit the south and middle belt in their own interest within three months.

“The properties and assets of ndigbo in the north should be valutated by independent valuers from the ecowas, au and uno and the monetary equavlent paid to their igbo owners before they qut the north in october. No Igbo asset owner will leave the north until they are paid the monetary value of all their assets. the united nations should provide its forces to guide these assets and properties until their fair values are paid. then Igbos can leave the north.

“If all igbos in the north are to leave the north by october, 2017 , then all arewa people in igbo land and the south must also quit by the same date.

While also stating that “Igbos also want nothing to do with the bloothirsty arewa people and will no longer be in the same country with them,” also “ordered that they (core arewas) should quit igbo land and valuate their assets and properties too to be paid to them before they leave.”



It concluded by stating that “there should be no violence or blood shed in this qid pro quo seperation.”

THE Ijaw People Development Initiative (IPDI) has said the ultimatum given to the Igbos was North’s intention to end Nigeria’s marriage.

The National President of IPDI, Mr. Austin Ozobo, in a statement which partly read, said: “We want to laud the North for its readiness for the dissolution of the false marriage call Nigeria. However, if they fail to disintegrate as declared, we shall refer to them as cowards and mental unstable people.

“The Igbo and other Niger Deltans should kindly evacuate the North before October 1. Biafra and Niger Delta agitations are unstoppable. Nigeria has grown beyond keeping its unity through force.”

‘Quit notice more treasonable than IPOB’s threats’

Similarly, The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the umbrella group of the Niger Delta people, have described the quit notice by 16 Arewa youth groups in Kaduna to the Igbo as grave.

It considered the statement by the Arewa youths as tragic and more treasonable than the offence allegedly committed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), for which he was held in detention for about a year.

ALSO READ: Ekweremadu: May 30th Sit-at-home Order Should Be Optional

A statement yesterday by PANDEF signed by Dr. Alfred Mulade, a member of the central working committee, stated that not only is the statement by the Arewa youths a potent threat to the corporate unity of the country, but the most dangerous statement ever made by any group to the unity and existence of Nigeria since the end of the civil war.

The statement read: “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 break up the country whose unity is guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In condemning this statement in its entirety, PANDEF calls on all northern state governments, elders, particularly the Arewa Consultative Assembly in whose House the press conference was held, not only to condemn it but to take concrete steps to reassure the Igbo and indeed all Nigerians that they are free to stay in the North without any form of molestations.


ALSO READ: FG: Why Restructuring Won’t Work Now

“PANDEF insists 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.

“Whilst we do not support Nnamdi Kanu, and the various secessionist organisations 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.”

THE Ijaw People Development Initiative (IPDI) has said the ultimatum given to the Igbos was North’s intention to end Nigeria’s marriage.

The National President of IPDI, Mr. Austin Ozobo, in a statement which partly read, said: “We want to laud the North for its readiness for the dissolution of the false marriage call Nigeria. However, if they fail to disintegrate as declared, we shall refer to them as cowards and mental unstable people.

“The Igbo and other Niger Deltans should kindly evacuate the North before October 1. Biafra and Niger Delta agitations are unstoppable. Nigeria has grown beyond keeping its unity through force.”

‘Quit notice more treasonable than IPOB’s threats’

Similarly, The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the umbrella group of the Niger Delta people, have described the quit notice by 16 Arewa youth groups in Kaduna to the Igbo as grave.

It considered the statement by the Arewa youths as tragic and more treasonable than the offence allegedly committed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), for which he was held in detention for about a year.

ALSO READ: Ekweremadu: May 30th Sit-at-home Order Should Be Optional

A statement yesterday by PANDEF signed by Dr. Alfred Mulade, a member of the central working committee, stated that not only is the statement by the Arewa youths a potent threat to the corporate unity of the country, but the most dangerous statement ever made by any group to the unity and existence of Nigeria since the end of the civil war.

The statement read: “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 break up the country whose unity is guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In condemning this statement in its entirety, PANDEF calls on all northern state governments, elders, particularly the Arewa Consultative Assembly in whose House the press conference was held, not only to condemn it but to take concrete steps to reassure the Igbo and indeed all Nigerians that they are free to stay in the North without any form of molestations.


ALSO READ: FG: Why Restructuring Won’t Work Now

“PANDEF insists 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.

“Whilst we do not support Nnamdi Kanu, and the various secessionist organisations 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.”

THE United Nations has called on different ethnic tribes and groups in Nigeria to be more tolerant to ensure unity and peace in the country.

The UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said this in a statement Thursday.

Kallon noted with concern media reports of an ultimatum issued by northern youth groups calling for all Igbo people to leave Northern Nigeria by October 1.

He noted the ultimatum followed a sit-down-strike observed in the five states in South East Nigeria on May 30, purportedly meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Biafra.

“We have to work together to resolve peacefully any concern that different groups in the country may have.

“I am heartened by reactions of leaders from all over the country condemning this ultimatum.

“UN calls for tolerance and a spirit of togetherness in transparency to address the concerns of all the citizens in a peaceful manner,” Kallon said.

He said this should be done in such a way that no one was left behind in the quest for sustainable development.

The coordinator especially urged cultural and religious leaders to play their part in guiding the youth to settle differences peacefully.

Kallon also stressed the need to re-invigorate the National Peace Committee, as it could play a role in addressing the current concerns that impinge on the peace of the country.

He recalled that the committee worked tirelessly during the election period in 2015.

“Nigeria is a great country with immense potential to build the welfare of its population and lead Africa in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.



“This can only be achieved in an atmosphere of the rule of law and peace where all citizens live happily irrespective of their ethnic or religious backgrounds.

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“I commend the Federal and State Governments, youth and civil society leaders, security agencies, cultural and religious leaders for their efforts to promote peace in the country.

“The UN is ready to continue supporting Nigeria to build an enduring democracy in peace, prosperity and respect for diversity,”Kallon said.

(NAN)