Prof. Ango Abdullahi spokesperson of the Northern Elders ForumIt is not only the youths in northern Nigeria who want the Igbo to leave the region within three months or face the consequences, the northern elders said on Friday that the Igbo must go within the time given to them, and form their state of BIAFRA somewhere in eastern Nigeria.
The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) backed 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, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reported on Friday.
The news agency said Professor Ango Abdullahi, the NEF spokesperson told newsmen in Zaria 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.
Ango 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.”
He said whoever feels Nigeria “is not conducive for him” let him quit, adding that what the northern youth groups did was not a sin, NAN reported.
whoever feels Nigeria “is not conducive for him” let him quit
He lamented that none of the Northern governors reacted to the persistent call for the actualisation of Biafra and other agitations.
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.
“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,” he noted.
Speaking specifically on the Igbos, Ango said the people from the south were always pretending that people from the north were cheating them.
“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.
“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,” he said.
He recalled that the tradition had remained during the colonial masters and nothing changed after they left the country.
Ango said it was the same money from the North that was used to construct Nigerian Railways, refineries and other facilities.
“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,” he said.
With threats and counter-threats, Nigeria may be sliding into another state of chaos or even civil war, 50 years after the first civil war left more than a million people dead when the Igbo who live in eastern Nigeria decided to break away and form the independent state of BIAFRA.
Nigeria had just become independent in 1960 when in January 1966, a military coup led by an Igbo soldier saw 30 political leaders including Nigeria’s Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (from the north), and the Northern premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, killed.
It was alleged to be an Igbo coup because Nnamdi Azikiwe, the President, of Igbo extraction, and the premier of the southeastern part of the country were not killed.
That same year, in July 1966 northern officers and army units staged a counter-coup and Muslim officers named a General from a small ethnic group (the Angas) in central Nigeria, General Yakubu “Jack” Gowon, as the head of the Federal Military Government (FMG).
Online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, says the two coups deepened Nigeria’s ethnic tensions and in September 1966, approximately 30,000 Igbo were killed in the north, and some Northerners were killed in backlashes in eastern cities. It was not long after, the Igbo decided to break up and the war began.
Now, a northern Nigeria group has given the Igbo 90 days (3 months) to relocate to their BIAFRA land or face consequences.