It is no more news that Nigerians of Igbo extraction have been given
\nmarching orders to vacate the North by Northern youths under the aegis of
\nCoalition of Northern Youths (CNY) and the subsequent backing by Northern
\nElders which has sparked outrage and generated so many criticisms by both
\nNigerians at home and abroad.The reason cited for the eviction order
\nborders on the ongoing agitations for secession which is being championed
\nby the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement
\nfor the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MAASOB).
\nRecall the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum did expressly say the threat
\nissued to Igbos to leave the region is for real and by no means a joke
\nnotwithstanding the orders from Abuja to clamp down on the purveyors of
\nthe eviction notice. At the beginning of the episode when the eviction
\nnotice hit the nation’s airwaves and later the social media, \u00a0President of
\nArewa Youths Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima, was remorseful and went
\non to give reasons why they gave the order amid ominous silence by the
\nNorthern Elders.
\nNo sooner had \u00a0the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam El-Rufai and Nigeria’s
\nInspector-General of Police given orders to arrest those behind the
\neviction notice than the prime movers behind the orders surfaced in the
\nperson of Prof Ango Abdullahi and \u00a0Dr Junaid Mohammed and other members of
\nthe Northern Elders Forum who have been threatening fire and brimstone
\nwhich now hangs over our heads like the ancient sword \u00a0of Damocles.
\nOnly today, Yerima Shettima encouraged by the subsequent vocal support by
\nthe prime movers, said they have no regret for the order and he owes no
\none apology for the quit order served the Igbos.
\nNoteworthy here is the ominous silence on the above-named prime movers and
\nthe subsequent threat by Junaid Mohammed that the North is not afraid of
\nwar which has made news headlines across Nigeria and the seemingly
\nlackadaisical attitude of Nigeria’s security agents to effect the arrest
\nof Shettima and \u00a0his co-travelers in the perilous journey to plunge
\nNigeria into annihilation.
\nAs it is, there is no denying the fact that ill-conceived plans may have
\nbeen perfected to unleash fury on a harmless people who are only in the
\nregion in their capacity as bonafide citizens of the Federal Republic of
\nNigeria whose rights to self-determination is inalienable. They remain the
\ncitizens of Nigeria until a proposed referendum decides otherwise. On this
\nscore, this threat to leave the region on or before October 1, I dare say,
\nis ill-advised and \u00a0I condemn this in the strongest terms.
\nSince this threat was issued amid condemnations by the Northern ruling
\nhouses, how many arrests have been made? According to reports making the
\nrounds, President Muhammadu Buhari did expressly pat Governor El Rufai on
\nthe back for the order to proceed against those who gave the eviction
\nnotice. Be that as it may, how many arrests have been made?
\nThis appears a cause for concern seeing that the heads of Nigeria’s
\nsecurity agencies are all made up of people from one region who partly
\nappear in sympathy with their people and partly fundamentally opposed to
\nthe ongoing agitations mainly in the southern parts of the country.
\nAgainst this background, I have every compelling reason to call in
\nquestion the assurances and reassurances by the government that Igbos and
\nother southerners are safe in the North.
\nIn the light of the above, the threat to Igbos to leave the North should,
\nby all means, not only be taken seriously by the Igbos but also by every
\nSoutherner because past events in the region have shown that every
\nSoutherner in the North is labeled as Nyamiri and would not escape the
\nlooming conflagration as time menacingly ticks by. Thus, there is a
\ncompelling need for every Southerner to be pro-active by leaving the
\nregion at least for now until the coast becomes clear if ever, otherwise
\none would be seen as abandoning oneself not only to an avoidable despair
\nbut also to a looming pogrom.
\nA people that fail to learn from history is doomed to perdition. Before
\nthe Civil War in Nigeria, the late Biafran warlord, Odumegwu Ojukwu was
\nhelicoptered into the desert city of Kano to register his displeasure with
\nthe then Emir of Kano in protest against the killing of Igbos and he was
\nreportedly assured actions and measures would be taken to halt the
\nkillings.
\nAs luck would have it, the reassurance by the then Kano Monarch did not
\nsee the light of the day as no sooner had he left the region than fuel was
\nadded to the raging flames and Igbos were killed in their thousands. This,
\naccording to reports, became the last straw that broke the camel’s back
\nwhich did not only precede but hasten the historic declaration of
\nsecession from Nigeria at the period under sad review.
\nA similar scenario is dangerously unfolding again following the feigned
\nreassurances by some Northern grandees. Frankly, I do not see the
\ngenuineness of the reassurances so far as no drastic measure has been
\ntaken to douse the tension triggered off by the raging threat. This may
\njust be another ploy to commit a genocide on a harmless people who are
\nonly in the region as bonafide citizens of Nigeria and as part of their
\nconstitutionally-guaranteed rights.
\nIt is high time, the north controlled Nigeria’s security agencies delved
\ninto action to proceed against the promoters and purveyors of the
\nill-conceived eviction order as anything to the contrary amounts to
\nspeaking to us in the appearance of Esau but in the highly deceptive voice
\nof Jacob.”
\n*Iyoha John Darlington, a social activist, political analyst and public
\ncommentator on national and global issues wrote from Turin, Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n