Standup9ja: Anti-Igbo threat: Osinbajo vows to clamp down on
troublemakers
Olalekan Adetayo, Ramon Oladimeji Chukwudi Akasike and
Enyioha Opara
The acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, read the
Riot Act to all those beating the drums of war across the country, saying the
full force of the law would be applied where necessary.
Osinbajo gave the warning while addressing leaders of
thought from the northern part of the country at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, was called
in the wake of the recent notice to quit some youths from the northern part of
the country handed down to people from the South-East to leave their region.
Osinbajo, in his opening remarks before journalists were
asked to leave the venue, said the Federal Government was determined to ensure
unity in the country.
He said hate speeches and other divisive behaviours would be
met with the full force of the law.
He said government would take very seriously any attempts to
cause violence or disrupt the peace of the country.
The acting President said, “As a government, we are
determined to ensure the unity of the country along the lines of our
constitution and I want to say that hate and divisive speech or divisive
behaviour where it is illegal will be met with the full force of the law.
“I want to ensure that there is no doubt at all that it is
the resolve of the government that no one will be allowed to get away with
making speeches that can cause sedition or that can cause violence.
“This is especially so because when we make this kind of
pronouncement and do things that can cause violence or destruction of lives and
property, we are no longer in control. Those who make those speeches are no
longer in control.
“So I want to emphasise that government will take very
seriously any attempts to cause violence or disrupt the peace of this country.
And that is very important because you cannot control violence once it begins.”
Osinbajo likened violence or hate speech to a stone thrown
in the marketplace which would hit targets that would be deadly.
He said Nigerians needed to be fully conscious so that they
would not create a crisis that was not intended.
Osinbajo admitted that as part of living together,
misunderstandings and frustrations would always arise and people would always
want to get the best part of the deal.
Those at the meeting included the President of the Senate,
Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Chief of
Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin; Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum
and former Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Coomassie; spokesman for the
Northern Elders Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi; and a former governor of Sokoto
State, Aliyu Wamakko.
Others are a former deputy governor of Plateau State,
Pauline Tallen; the Publisher of Leadership newspapers, Sam Ndah-Isaiah; Paul
Unongo, Chairman, Liberty Radio and Television, Tijani Ramalan; and the
Editor-in-Chief, Standup9ja, Dan Ali, among others.
Osinbajo is expected to meet with leaders from the
South-East separately before he would eventually meet with both groups
together.
His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr.
Laolu Akande, confirmed this in a series of tweets on his Twitter handle on
Tuesday.
“Acting President Osinbajo will start a series of
consultations with the Leaders of Thought from the northern and eastern regions
of the country this afternoon (Tuesday).
“Osinbajo will first meet each group separately on different
days this week and then meet them together afterwards,” Akande wrote.
He also confirmed that the acting President met with
security chiefs over the weekend on the need to ensure that Nigerians were
protected in every part of the country.
“The acting President met over the weekend with security
chiefs and gave firm instructions on the need to protect lives and property of
all Nigerians always, everywhere,” he added.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Christian Association of
Nigeria in the North has met with the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, over the
tension generated by the notice to quit issued by Arewa groups for the Igbo to
vacate the North.
The meeting also discussed the prevailing security situation
in the North especially in Southern Kaduna as well as the alleged
marginalisation of Christians by some governors in the region.
The Niger State Chairman of CAN, Reverend Mathias Echioda,
who confirmed the meeting while addressing journalists in Minna on Tuesday,
said CAN in the 19 northern states took exception to the quit notice issued to
the Igbo.
Though Echioda did not give further details of the meeting
he, nonetheless, asked the elders in the North to put pressure on the Arewa
groups to withdraw the ultimatum issued to the Igbo.
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