Standup9ja: Northern youths give Igbos 3 months to leave the
region
Some Northern Nigeria youth groups in Kaduna on Tuesday
declared “war” against all Igbos residing in the North, demanding they leave
the area within three months.
In what they called a 'Kaduna Declaration' ,they also asked
Northerners in the South-East to leave the area, before October 1 .
They said pro-Biafran activities of the Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB),“amount to a brutal encroachment on the rights of those termed as
non-indigenous people residing and doing lawful businesses in those areas
illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the Igbo.
The groups that signed the declaration include Arewa
Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth
Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network,
but it is unclear if known officials of any of the groups actually signed the
document.
Below is the text of the declaration:
THE KADUNA DECLARATION BEING A JOINT POSITION PAPER ISSUED
BY THE AREWA CITIZENS ACTION FOR CHANGE, AREWA YOUTH CONSULTATIVE FORUM, AREWA
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, AREWA STUDENTS FORUM AND NORTHERN EMANCIPATION
NETWORK ON THE IGBO PERSISTENCE FOR SECESSION
June 06, 2017
PREAMBLE
The persistence for the actualization of Biafra by the
unruly Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria has lately assumed another alarming twist which
involved the forceful lockdown of activities and denial of other people's right
to free movement in the South-East by the rebel Indigenous People of Biafra
(IPOB) and its overt and covert sponsors.
This latest action and similar confrontational conducts
which amount to a brutal encroachment on the rights of those termed as
non-indigenous people residing and doing lawful businesses in those areas
illegally demarcated and defined as Biafra by the Igbo, are downright
unacceptable and shall no longer be tolerated.
OBSERVATIONS
Concerned by this persistent Igbo threat to national
integration, the above-namedPan-northern groups met with several others and
reviewed the current position of the North and jointly came up with the
following observations:
1. IGBO PROVOCATION
a. The Igbo people of the South-East, without remorse for
the carnage they wrought on the nation in the 1960s, are today boldly reliving
those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the
very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria's history.
b. Emboldened by the
apparent indifference of the Nigerian authorities, the Igbo secessionist
tendency is widening in scope and action at every stage, with adverse effects
on the law-abiding people of other regions residing in or passing through the
East, while the Igbo leaders and elders by their utterances and direct action
or inaction appear to support and encourage it.
c. This is happening
irrespective of the undisputable fact that:
i. The cruel Igbos
have done and are doing more damage to our collective nationhood than any other
ethnic group; being responsible for the first violent interference with
democracy in Nigeria resulting in a prolonged counter-productive chain of
military dictatorship.
ii. The Igbos similarly orchestrated the first, and so far,
the only civil war in Nigeria that consumed millions of lives and sowed the
seed of the current mutual suspicion and distrust.
iii. The Igbos are
also responsible for Nigeria's cultural and moral degeneracy with their
notorious involvement in all kinds of crimes, including international
networking for drug and human trafficking, violent robberies and kidnappings,
high-profile prostitution and advanced financial fraud.
iv. At the peak of
the devastating Boko Haram violence in some parts of the North, available
records show that the Igbo people have variously been apprehended while
attempting to convey catches of dangerous arms and ammunition to the troubled
regions.
v. There are today
sufficient reasons to suspect that some Igbos masquerade as Fulani herdsmen to
commit violent atrocities across the country in order to cause and spread
ethnic disaffection.
vi. It is also on
record that since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, the
Igbos have shown and maintained open contempt and resentment for the collective
decision expressed by majority of Nigerians at various stages via generally
acceptable democratic processes.
2. DOCILE NORTHERN
RESPONSE
a. While these provocative acts of aggression persist and
grow in dimension with each new move, leaders of the North whose people are at
the receiving end of the threats, appear helplessly unperturbed.
b. Rather than endorsing a concise framework for pre-emptive
action to protect and safeguard the interest of the North and its people,
leaders of the region at every stage tend to seek the cover of a flimsy and
long-discarded excuse of having fought in the 60s to keep Nigeria united.
c. Without pursuing a
resolute action-plan, these northern leaders have adopted and have been
dragging its people into a pitifully pacifist position in order tosustain an
elusive national cohesion that has long been ridiculed by the Igbos.
OUR STAND
1. From today, June
6, 2017, when this proclamation is signed, the North, a critical player in the
Nigerian project, hereby declares that it will no longer be disposed to
coexisting with the Igbos and shall take definite steps to end the partnership
by pulling out of the current federal arrangement.
2. This conclusion is necessitated by the realization that
it since ceased to be comfortable or safe to continue sharing the same country
with the ungrateful, uncultured Igbos who have exhibited reckless disrespect
for the other federating units and stained the integrity of the entire nation
with their insatiable criminal obsessions.
3. Rather than
certain sections holding the whole country to ransom at every stage, each
should be allowed to go its own way as we categorically proclaim today that the
North is fed up with being the same country with this pack of acrimonious Igbo
partners.
4. The North hereby
openly calls on the authorities and other national and international stakeholders
to acknowledge this declaration by taking steps to facilitate the final
dissolution of this hopeless union that has never been convenient to any of the
parties.
PRELUDE TO FINAL SEPARATION
1. RECOVERY AND
CONTROL OF LANDED PROPERTY
As a first step, since the Igbo have clearly abused the
unreciprocated hospitality that gave them unrestricted access to, and ownership
of landed properties all over the North, our first major move shall be to
reclaim, assume and assert sole ownership and control of these landed resources
currently owned, rented or in any way enjoyed by the ingrate Igbos in any part
of Northern Nigeria.
Consequently, officials of the signatory groups to this
declaration, are already mandated to commence immediate inventory of all properties,
spaces or activity in the north currently occupied by the Igbos for forfeiture
at the expiration of the ultimatum contained in this declaration.
In specific terms, the groups are directed to compile and
forward an up-to-date data of all locations occupied by any Igbo in any part of
Northern Nigeria including schools, markets, shops, workshops, residences and
every other activity spaces.
2. RELOCATION NOTICE
Secondly, with the effective date of this declaration, which
is today, Tuesday, June 06, 2017, all Igbos currently residing in any part of
Northern Nigeria are hereby served notice to relocate within three months and
all northerners residing in the East are advised likewise.
3. ENFORCEMENT
All northern civil society and pressure groups are by this
declaration mandated to mobilize for sustained, coordinated campaigns at their
respective State Government Houses, State Houses of Assembly, Local Government
Council Secretariats, and Traditional Palaces to mount pressure for steps to be
taken to ensure enforcement of the directives contained herein.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we are hereby placing the Nigerian
authorities and the entire nation on notice that as from the 1st October 2017,
we shall commence the implementation of visible actions to prove to the whole
world that we are no longer part of any federal union that should do with the
Igbos.
From that date, effective, peaceful and safe mop-up of all
the remnants of the stubborn Igbos that neglect to heed this quit notice shall
commence to finally eject them from every part of the North.
And finally, all authorities, individuals or groups are
hereby advised against attempting to undermine this declaration by insisting on
this union with the Igbos who have thus far proved to be an unnecessary baggage
carried too far and for too long.
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