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 Igbo and shall take definite steps to end the partnership by pulling out of the current federal arrangement.”
The above is an excerpt from the statement of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (ACYF), read on Tuesday at the Arewa House, Kaduna by a spokesman of the Northern youth coalition, Mallam Abdulazeez Suleiman. That statement has now assumed the toga of the Kaduna Declaration and is behind the tension growing in the polity.
Is history repeating itself in Nigeria? That is the question that readily comes to mind. All the accounts of the Civil War of 1967 to 1970, told by the actors and bystanders alike, agreed to the fact that the failure to manage ethnic tension between the North and East eventually created room for the bloodletting. Details of the buildup to that ferocious war which eventually saw Nigerian stalling the separatist plan of Biafra Republic, indicated that unmanageable ethnic tension snowballed to pave the way for gun booms and carnage.
As if it was choreographed, there was the 1966 coup and counter coup which got the tags of ethnicity on both sides and then the back and forth between the Nigerian government and the Eastern government, leading to pogrom against Easterners and the quit order. Eventually, Nigeria and Biafran agitators found themselves on the battlefields which lasted three years.
Exactly 50 years after the war, tension is building up once again, almost following the 1967 pattern. Here, a man, Nnamdi Kanu, has emerged the new Biafran leader, he was incarcerated and eventually released on bail. His group, the IPOB, marked the golden jubilee of the Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu-led uprising and then, a Northern group fired an ultimatum. Before then there were rumours of coup and then an incident on the floor of the House of Representatives last week, which further hyped the question of ethnicity.
Some-South East lawmakers in the lower chamber had moved for the second reading of the law seeking the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC). The bill was actually read the second time but denied the opportunity of crossing the all-important stage as it got shut down after a controversial voice vote. South-East Representatives walked out of the chamber and in anger, they alleged that Northern interests in the House caused the defeat of the bill, which was co-sponsored by 45 members.
While Nigerians were still trying to come to terms with the essence of the House decision, a bombshell landed on the tables as a Northern youth group issued a three- month ultimatum to Igbo to quit the North.
The Kaduna Declaration as it is now being called, issued on Tuesday indicated that from October 1, 2017, Igbo will no longer be welcome in the Northern parts of the country.
Northern youth groups, under the aegis of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (ACYF), a coalition of socio-political groups in Northern Nigeria which issued the ultimatum, said that the North was tired of the 1914 amalgamation of the North and South which brought about the Nigerian nation.
According to records produced by the group, its ranks include 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, among others.
Spokesman of the youth group, Mallam Abdulazeez Suleiman, who read a statement issued after a meeting of the group at the Arewa House in Kaduna, said that the quit notice on Igbo was as a result of the anger in the North against IPOB and the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra MASSOB)’s shut-down of major towns in Eastern part of the country on May 30 to celebrate Biafra.
Mallam Suleiman said that the North was tired of the 1914 amalgamation and would henceforth back the call for restructuring of the country currently being championed by different sections of the country including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Senator Shehu Sani.
He said on behalf of the coalition: “The persistence for the actualisation 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 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.
“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.”
The Middle-Belt dimension
A day after the Kaduna Declaration, the Middle Belt Youth Council, led by its President, Emma Zopmal, dissociated itself from the quit order on the Igbo, declaring that it was ready to accommodate the South Easterners if they were forced out of the core North.
Zopmal said in a statement that the Middle Belt was extremely concerned about the growing ethnic tension and would like to add its voice.
While decrying the incessant attacks on its areas by Fulani herdsmen, the Middle Belt stated that it was ready to accommodate anyone who got dislocated.
“But, in an event one part of the country decides to go away as a separate entity, Middle Belt is also ready to make an independent statement. We want to clarify those who think that the Middle Belt is part of the North: God created everywhere and everyone and He gave it to whom He chooses and Middle Belt is a creation of God and not man.
“Therefore, we choose what to use our land for, how to run it and where we want to be. Middle Belt has been a home for the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, South-South and the South-West without any form of discrimination against anyone.
“We’ve accommodated every Nigerian for centuries now. We deserve respect and commendations. If the Arewa youths are sending away Igbo from their states, we in the Middle Belt are ready to offer them accommodation in our land (which is an inheritance from God and nobody will take it away from us) for them to continue with their life and businesses.
“Southern Nigeria people should also know that ‘Middle Belters’ are not northerners and we can never be because we’re not affiliated in terms of culture, language, education, economy, and general lifestyle.”
FG, Senate President react
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who spoke on Wednesday on the raging fire asked Nigerians to feel free to reside anywhere in the country, while reassuring citizens that the Federal Government was ready to defend them.
“There is zero tolerance for actions and speeches capable of inciting one part of the country against another, and the security agencies are fully on the ground to deal decisively with any individual or group that engages in incendiary activities,” Alhaji Mohammed said.
His reassurance was echoed by Senate President Bukola Saraki, who on Wednesday hosted leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and Abuja, led by the Chairman, Reverend Yakubu Pam, in the National Assembly.
The Senate President, according to a statement by his Media Assistant, Chuks Okocha, told Nigerians that they should feel free to coexist.
“Let me through you appeal to all our people for tolerance and understanding. I want to appeal that we preach tolerance. I believe that it is our responsibility as leaders, to impress on our people to be very tolerant and let us seek unity,” Saraki said.
The statement also quoted Saraki as appealing to everybody to refrain from hate speeches and de-emphasise the fault lines. He further said: “This is very important. I am hopeful, that we are only going through these challenges because of the state of our economy and I believe by the time the economic recovery plan of the present administration begins to yield fruits, some of these issues will fizzle out.”
Northern Governors and Kaduna Declaration
To further douse the rising tension, governors of the 19 Northern states immediately rebuked the self-styled Northern youths, insisting that Nigerians must be free to live in every corner of the country.
Borno State Governor, who doubles as the Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, Kashim Shettima, said that the governors are in touch with heads of security agencies in the region and are taking steps to guarantee safety.
Shettima said: “On behalf of the governors of the 19 Northern states, we totally condemn such irresponsible pronouncements by those groups. We condemn, we disown, and we are totally distancing ourselves from those faceless groups who don’t have the mandate of the people of Northern Nigeria to make such loud pronouncements.
“Section 41, Subsection 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is very explicit in safeguarding the rights of all Nigerians to reside in any part of the country with no hindrance whatsoever.
“But then, when you see a toad dancing in the broad daylight, the drummer is not far from the main road. We wish to call on the security agencies to beam their lenses on these groups, and unearth the faces behind the mask.
“Some months back, there were cases of importation of arms, illegal importation of arms intercepted at the ports, then we started hearing rumours of a coup d’etat.
“Now, a group, or a bunch of groups that do not have the mandate of the people came up with remarks capable of destabilising the north and the country as a whole. We are one nation tied to a common destiny, the governance of Northern Nigeria is not in alignment with those pronouncements, and we will take whatever measures that are necessary to safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians living in any part of the North.”
According to him, the governors will not take chances or toy with the destiny of the country. “The 19 Northern Governors wish to call on our brothers of Igbo descent to remain calm and go about their legitimate businesses. Nobody can dare to intimidate, harass or dehumanise them in any of the 19 northern states, our governors will not allow that,” Shettima said.
Reading el-Rufai’s steps
Again, the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, also on Wednesday ordered the arrest of all signatories to the Kaduna Declaration, which issued the quit notice.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), Samuel Aruwan, the governor told the citizens that they were free to reside in any part of the state,` adding that no one can abridge their constitutional right.
Anger, cautious optimism from South-East
Interviews granted by leaders of the South-East since the Kaduna Declaration became public have revealed anger and in some cases cautious optimism. While the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, decided to await clear actions by Northern leaders to show the direction of the region, others described the declaration as insensitive to national unity.
But the Deputy National President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Monday Ubani, said on Tuesday that the Northern Youth Coalition has no right to issue quit notices to any Nigerian.
“If they are tired of the 1914 arrangement, they should know what to do. No one has the right to issue ultimatums to any region, be it North, West or East. The government should intervene and ensure that there is peace because of lives and properties of individuals are important,” Ubani said.
Different other groups have condemned the Northern coalition and its Kaduna declaration, describing it as exacerbating the tension in the polity.
But the boldness with which the Northern Youths slammed their declaration on the polity and the fact that similar comments had been targeted at the Tivs of Benue State about a week before raise questions as to the proactiveness of the security outfits to stop hate speeches.
Despite the assurances, the government of the day has a duty to protect lives and property and prevent a return to the type of carnage witnessed 50 years ago in the buildup to the unhelpful Civil War.
and then