Despite Governor Nasir el Rufai’s directive to the Nigerian Police Force to immediately arrest all the signatories to the Kaduna declaration, giving a
Despite Governor Nasir el Rufai’s directive to the Nigerian Police Force to immediately arrest all the signatories to the Kaduna declaration, giving a three month ultimatum to the Igbos to leave the northern part of the country, the Northern youths defied the Kaduna State governor and held another meeting in Kaduna yesterday.
The National President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima, said members of the groups were meeting. When asked to comment on the order by el-Rufai that the youths should be arrested, Shettima said, “Please, we are meeting now on the matter. When we finish, we shall let you know the outcome of our meeting. I will get back to you once we end our meeting please.”
On its part, the Force Headquarters said it had beefed up security nationwide and deployed more operatives in major cities to forestall a breakdown of law and order. The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, said the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, had also directed command Commissioners of Police and Assistant IGPs in charge of zonal formations to ensure enforcement of the law in their jurisdictions.
Asked if the police would arrest the members of the group behind the anti-Igbo declaration, Moshood claimed that he had not seen the ultimatum, more than 24 hours after the threat was reported by the media.
“I have not seen any ultimatum. It’s only in the media and the police will not be mixed up in politics. We are to ensure law and order, which is what we are doing. Anybody who now comes out to threaten the lives of others, the law will take its course,” he stated.
On Wednesday, el-Rufai had ordered the immediate arrest and prosecution of the leaders of northern coalition groups that threatened the safety and property of citizens of Igbo extraction in the region ordering the police to immediately fish out those behind the threat statement as well as their sponsors for immediate prosecution. He stated that the representatives of the groups had violated the law of the state by issuing such threats within the state, saying they would not be spared.
The groups had, on Tuesday, issued a three-month ultimatum to people of Igbo extraction, resident in the 19 states in the North, to leave the North or be forced out before October 1, 2017 while also admonishing their fellow northerners in the South East to be prepared to return home. The National President of the Northern Emancipation Network, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who read the text of the press conference, alleged that the Igbo had become a threat to the unity of the country.
A prepared text of a press conference addressed by the groups was signed by the leaders of the various groups. Those who signed the groups’ statement are Nastura Sharif (Arewa Citizens Action for Change); Amb. Shettima Yerima (Arewa Youth Consultative Forum); Aminu Adam (Arewa Youth Development Foundation); Alfred Solomon (Arewa Students Forum); Abdul-Azeez Suleiman (Northern Emancipation Network) as well as Joshua Viashman (Northern Youth Vanguard).
Meanwhile, the Federal Government, on Wednesday, said security agencies were already on the alert over the threat statement by some people claiming to be northern youths. The Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammed assured Nigerians that security agencies were on top of the matter, adding that the statement was capable of destabilising the country.
“What I want to assure you is that security organisations are very, very much on top of this matter.”
When asked whether the issue of the ultimatum came up for discussion during the FEC meeting, the minister said it did not come up.
Similarly, the Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.), in his reaction, asked Nigerians to discountenance the statement by the northern youths, stating that citizens were free to live anywhere they like. He said in a statement that the government would punish any individual or group violating the rights of other citizens.
