Pan-Yoruba political organisation, Afenifere has reacted to the three months eviction notice issued by the Coalition of Northern Youths, ordering the Igbos to vacate the North.
While urging Northern elders to call their youths to order, Yinka Odumakin, a spokesperson for the group warned that the eviction notice may be the beginning of the end for Nigeria.
“Carrying out their threats would be a prelude to another pogrom. These elements have over the years showed theirpropensity to attack people, but like Chinua Achebe said, they are holding a knife to the tiny rope that still holds the country together.
“I hope that if they still have elders, their elders should call them to order, otherwise, it may be the beginning of the end of Nigeria, as we know it.
“They should know that in 1967, they had a coalition to fight the Igbo but that coalition is no more there today. We know the people that fought the last war and won it.
“I can boldly speak for the Yoruba nation, that if the North thinks they can declare another war against the Igbo, it would not work. If they see any Yoruba man joining them to fight the Igbo, then that person must be a mercenary.
Yinka Odumakin
The group noted that the Igbos were neither fighting nor causing any crisis, but were just trying to make their grievances known in a peaceful manner. Therefore, they queried why the South Easterners should be threatened? “For northerners to tell them to leave the north is sad for the polity,” Afenifere stated.
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More so, another Afenifere Chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo described the development as a bad signal for the country. Adebanjo called on northern leaders to urgently condemn the statement by the northern youths, insisting that they did not speak for the north.
He also urged the Federal Government to make a statement on the issue which “otherwise has far-reaching implications to the unity of the nation. “If the North wants to break, there is nothing wrong but the idea of giving an ultimatum to a particularly set of people to vacate their region is unacceptable, “Adebanjo said.
Meanwhile, in reaction to the Northern youths eviction order, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) said it received the “quit notice” with gladness, urging the Igbo community to return home immediately. In a statement by its leader Uchenna Madu, MASSOB said:
“The latest quit notice by the coalition of northern youths under the umbrella of Arewa youths is not a surprise gift to Biafrans residing in Arewa land. MASSOB is aware that such rascality will happen.
“As a matter of fact, this is the only rascality exhibited by sponsored Arewa youths to forcefully (sic) exit the people of Biafra residing in Arewa land that MASSOB will hundred percent support. Their Boko Haram tactics didn’t work as planned.
“MASSOB gladly received the good news of quit notice order to the people of Biafra living in Arewa land. We pledge our total support towards this divinely approved quit notice. MASSOB congratulates the Arewa political, religious, and traditional and opinion leaders who sponsored their youths wing by using Arewa House in Kaduna for this greatest meeting of a coalition of Islamic fundamentalists.
“MASSOB is hereby advising the people of Biafra mostly the Igbos living in Northern Nigeria (Arewa land) to take this quit notice serious (sic) as the plan to violently kill your children, wives and demolish your investments are already perfected. MASSOB will never fight or defend your lives and properties in Hausa-Fulani land. The consciousness and realities of Biafra is highly overwhelming now.”
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Similarly, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), condemned the eviction notice, warning that it was capable of causing chaos in the country. However, the OYC urged the Igbos to remain “wherever they are and defend themselves if pushed to the wall”.
