IGBOs: Eviction Order And The Looming Pogrom

It is no more news that Nigerians of Igbo extraction have been given
marching orders to vacate the North by Northern youths under the aegis of
Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY) and the subsequent backing by Northern
Elders which has sparked outrage and generated so many criticisms by both
Nigerians at home and abroad.The reason cited for the eviction order
borders on the ongoing agitations for secession which is being championed
by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement
for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MAASOB).
Recall the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum did expressly say the threat
issued to Igbos to leave the region is for real and by no means a joke
notwithstanding the orders from Abuja to clamp down on the purveyors of
the eviction notice. At the beginning of the episode when the eviction
notice hit the nation’s airwaves and later the social media,  President of
Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima, was remorseful and went
on to give reasons why they gave the order amid ominous silence by the
Northern Elders.
No sooner had  the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam El-Rufai and Nigeria’s
Inspector-General of Police given orders to arrest those behind the
eviction notice than the prime movers behind the orders surfaced in the
person of Prof Ango Abdullahi and  Dr Junaid Mohammed and other members of
the Northern Elders Forum who have been threatening fire and brimstone
which now hangs over our heads like the ancient sword  of Damocles.
Only today, Yerima Shettima encouraged by the subsequent vocal support by
the prime movers, said they have no regret for the order and he owes no
one apology for the quit order served the Igbos.
Noteworthy here is the ominous silence on the above-named prime movers and
the subsequent threat by Junaid Mohammed that the North is not afraid of
war which has made news headlines across Nigeria and the seemingly
lackadaisical attitude of Nigeria’s security agents to effect the arrest
of Shettima and  his co-travelers in the perilous journey to plunge
Nigeria into annihilation.
As it is, there is no denying the fact that ill-conceived plans may have
been perfected to unleash fury on a harmless people who are only in the
region in their capacity as bonafide citizens of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria whose rights to self-determination is inalienable. They remain the
citizens of Nigeria until a proposed referendum decides otherwise. On this
score, this threat to leave the region on or before October 1, I dare say,
is ill-advised and  I condemn this in the strongest terms.
Since this threat was issued amid condemnations by the Northern ruling
houses, how many arrests have been made? According to reports making the
rounds, President Muhammadu Buhari did expressly pat Governor El Rufai on
the back for the order to proceed against those who gave the eviction
notice. Be that as it may, how many arrests have been made?
This appears a cause for concern seeing that the heads of Nigeria’s
security agencies are all made up of people from one region who partly
appear in sympathy with their people and partly fundamentally opposed to
the ongoing agitations mainly in the southern parts of the country.
Against this background, I have every compelling reason to call in
question the assurances and reassurances by the government that Igbos and
other southerners are safe in the North.
In the light of the above, the threat to Igbos to leave the North should,
by all means, not only be taken seriously by the Igbos but also by every
Southerner because past events in the region have shown that every
Southerner in the North is labeled as Nyamiri and would not escape the
looming conflagration as time menacingly ticks by. Thus, there is a
compelling need for every Southerner to be pro-active by leaving the
region at least for now until the coast becomes clear if ever, otherwise
one would be seen as abandoning oneself not only to an avoidable despair
but also to a looming pogrom.
A people that fail to learn from history is doomed to perdition. Before
the Civil War in Nigeria, the late Biafran warlord, Odumegwu Ojukwu was
helicoptered into the desert city of Kano to register his displeasure with
the then Emir of Kano in protest against the killing of Igbos and he was
reportedly assured actions and measures would be taken to halt the
killings.
As luck would have it, the reassurance by the then Kano Monarch did not
see the light of the day as no sooner had he left the region than fuel was
added to the raging flames and Igbos were killed in their thousands. This,
according to reports, became the last straw that broke the camel’s back
which did not only precede but hasten the historic declaration of
secession from Nigeria at the period under sad review.
A similar scenario is dangerously unfolding again following the feigned
reassurances by some Northern grandees. Frankly, I do not see the
genuineness of the reassurances so far as no drastic measure has been
taken to douse the tension triggered off by the raging threat. This may
just be another ploy to commit a genocide on a harmless people who are
only in the region as bonafide citizens of Nigeria and as part of their
constitutionally-guaranteed rights.
It is high time, the north controlled Nigeria’s security agencies delved
into action to proceed against the promoters and purveyors of the
ill-conceived eviction order as anything to the contrary amounts to
speaking to us in the appearance of Esau but in the highly deceptive voice
of Jacob.”
*Iyoha John Darlington, a social activist, political analyst and public
commentator on national and global issues wrote from Turin, Italy.