Youths from the northern and southeastern parts of the country, who on Tuesday swore at each other over the outcome of the recent seat-at home-order by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and the Movement for the Actualization of Biafra, MASSOB have been asked to hold their horses.
The Federal Government and Kaduna state government have dismissed as idiotic the order issued by groups of youths from the north on Igbos living in their region to quit by October 1, 2017.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting on Wednesday, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, said security agents were on top of the situation.
He said: “The issue of one or two groups issuing statements that is capable of destabilizing the polity did not just start today or did not start yesterday.
“What I want to assure you is that security organizations are very much on top of this matter.”
Kaduna State governor, Nasri el-Rufai in a statement by Samuel Aruwan, his senior special assistant on Media and Publicity, on Wednesday, dismissed the threat as empty and vowed to arrest the youths behind it
“The Kaduna State Government condemns in the strongest terms the press statement by some self-appointed ‘northern youths’ that threatened the safety and property of our citizens of Igbo extraction.
“Government assures every resident of our state that their constitutional and human rights to live peacefully and own property wherever they choose is sacrosanct. Even people who may feel unhappy about irresponsible comments or actions that have taken place in other states must know that two wrongs cannot make a right,” he said
“The Kaduna State Government believes in and will uphold the right of every Nigerian to live safely and develop his/her full potentials within its territory.
“Reckless disregard for the rights of other citizens drips through the press statement by these “northern youths” who have chosen to use the discourse around restructuring to promote their own agenda of hate, division and incitement.
“This sort of opportunists cannot be allowed to distort debate, or turn it into a pretext for a barely-disguised agenda of displacement and dispossession of some citizens.
“We will not tolerate such irresponsible statements and conduct in our state. The statement issued by the ‘northern youths’ violates the laws of Kaduna State. Therefore, the Kaduna State Government has directed that its Ministry of Justice should prepare charges and prosecute the signatories and anyone complicit in arranging this egregious assault on the rights of fellow citizens.
“Preparatory to prosecution, the police have been directed to immediately arrest, interrogate the signatories to the statement and investigate all the circumstances and persons that may be implicated in the matter.
In a joint statement issued in Kaduna, the group including the Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network ordered the Igbos to start preparing to leave the region on or before that date.
In a swift reaction to the development, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-political body of the Igbo, urged the security agencies to swing into action and arrest the Arewa youths behind the statement considered inciting while directing their kith and kin in the northern region to conduct their activities with vigilance
