By Ameh Comrade Godwin
The Arewa Youth
Coalition has flayed the comment made by President Muhammadu Buhari that
Nigeria must remain one.
The group urged the
government to conduct a referendum to provide an exit door for those who did
not want to be part of Nigeria.
Buhari had in a
nationwide broadcast on Monday upon his return from London affirmed that the
country was better off staying together.
But rising from a town
hall meeting for the North East geopolitical zone, yesterday, the coalition
disagreed with him on the non-negotiability of the unity of the country.
National Chairman of the
coalition, Alhaji Yerima Shettima told newsmen in Gombe, yesterday, that
Nigeria should create an exit door for the Biafra agitators by convening a
referendum.
“The president just came
back from his medical vocation. In normal circumstances, one should have
expected him to take some time to have a clear review of situations in the
country after spending 103 days abroad.
“His statement is a
welcome development to some extent because there are issues; the unity of the
country is being threatened. I think the focus of the president was basically
on the threat to our national unity and those were the key issues he spoke
about. In addition, that we would no longer tolerate anybody undermining the
security of the country. Certainly, agreed, it should be that way as he felt.
But I feel also that on the side of international law to which Nigeria is
signatory, it is expected that government must create an exit door for those
who feel they want to leave through a referendum and as stipulated in the 1999
constitution.
“It would not augur well
if we insist on living with people who do not want to be part of the country
and they keep threatening the unity of the country. It may even appear to the
international community like a mockery.
“If the government is up
and doing, let us abide by the demands of the international law by creating an
exit door for those agitating for self determination,” Shettima said.
“Certainly, the IPOB
cannot be said to be speaking for the South-East because they are less than ten
percent of the Igbo communities who are willing to remain in Nigeria,” he said.
Shedding light on the
October 1 quit notice issued to Igbo, Shettima lamented that the group’s
message in the Kaduna Declaration was misunderstood.
“An individual cannot
hold the country to ransom. We felt patriotic individuals from the South East
should have lent their voices to safeguard the unity of the country by
condemning the IPOB agitators. If, however, some individuals so much believe in
their Biafra, let such people go to your Biafra. Don’t bring war to the North,
to Nigeria,” he explained.
“Our call is being
misunderstood. We have been misquoted by mischief-makers who made it seem we
are calling for violence. That is why we are not faceless and we respond to
calls anywhere for dialogue with elder statesmen,” he said.