The coalition of Arewa youths on Thursday announced withdrawal of
quit notice it issued against Igbos living in northern Nigeria.
Spokesman for the coalition, AbdulAziz Suleiman said the withdrawal
was “a result of series of consultations and pressure from different
groups”.
He said there were interventions from Northern Governors through
their chairman and Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, Northern
traditional rulers, Director-General of the DSS and some officials of
the Presidency.
Shettima, who stood in for his colleagues at a press conference held
at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja to make the announcement, explained
reasons for his presence.
He also revealed that series of dialogue with the coalition were
based on mandate given to him by majority of Northern Governors who
wanted a peaceful resolution of the issue.
His words:
“First of all, my interest in this issue is borne out of
the position of majority of Northern Governors. I am acting based on a
mandate given to me by some of my colleagues in the Northern Governors’
Forum.“We are here principally as a pressure group to support the reverse
position taken by the Coalition of Arewa groups. We are here to politely
but meticulously ensure that this press conference holds as planned and
to politely monitor and ensure that the quit notice was publicly
withdrawn the same way it was publicly declared in June.“As you might have been aware, if you followed our discussions, this
quit notice was supposed to have been withdrawn weeks back, we met with
them on four occasions and on each, we wanted them to announce the
withdrawal but obviously, the coalition had some constraints.“They needed to consult widely to avoid rebellion by some members of
their coalition. So we kept the conversation opened and we continued
talking and monitoring them every step of the way. Some people might
ask, why should we be interested in these Arewa coalition withdrawing
the quit notice.“We simply want to prevent a situation where some hoodlums would take
advantage of the quit notice to go after the lives or property of any
Nigerian living in any of the 19 Northern States. We also don’t want to
create room for reactions in any of the 17 States in Southern part of
the country. The entire country could explode.“The fact is that the coalition only has control over their own
ultimatum before it expires. In this country, issues of religion and
ethnicity are usually catalysts of violent crisis. As Governors, we are
close to the grassroots through local government and ward systems.“We know the extent of sentiments and followership generated by both
the ultimatum issued by the Arewa Youths and the agitation in southeast,
we know this country could boil when the ultimatum expires and this is
why we insisted on political solution.“The Northern Governors were initially of the view that they should
be arrested soon after they issued that ultimatum but after very careful
analysis, after putting our ears to the ground and monitoring the
sentiments built especially from the social media, we changed tactics to
deploying a political solution because even if we had resorted to
coercion, we probably would have still ended up on the negotiating
table.“The bloody crisis of the Niger Delta which recorded high toll of
deaths and destructions of National assets for years, ended on the
negotiating table. Even the Biafran civil war ended on the negotiating
table. If we could negotiate before blood is shared, before property is
destroyed, before millions of people are displaced, why must we wait
till after the situation gets out of hand?“As we speak, the military has what they call operation safe corridor
which gives room for a sort of amnesty of moderate elements of the Boko
Haram who took up arms against the people of Borno State and the
country. It is a strategy of reducing fighters of the insurgents. So, in
Leadership, every situation is handled with the appropriate measure.“Unless when attempts for peaceful resolution fails, then there will
be no option than to use force. What is most important now is that the
Federal Government has taken measures that clearly categorizes hate
speech as a form of terrorism. This is a great move that should be
preventive of any future situation”.
The governor further spoke on the roles played by three most
dominant tribes in Nigeria, the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba noting that
Nigeria’s future lies in its unity and prosperity.
Shettima added that all ethnic groups have equal stake in the
Nigerian project and that all hands must be on deck to move the country
forward in unison.
