THE All Progressives Congress (APC) youths from the North-Central region have called on Nigerians of South-East extraction living in the North to ignore the quit order issued last week by certain Arewa groups.
A coalition of Northern groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, had last Tuesday, gave all Igbo resident in the 19 states of the North a three-month ultimatum to quit or be forced out after the expiration of the October 1, 2017 deadline.
But reacting to the development at the weekend, the APC North-Central Zonal Youth Leader, Comrade Terver Aginde, decried the stance of the Northern groups, which he noted did not represent the views of the youth in the North-Central states.
He said, “The North-Central youths are saying those so called Northern youths who issued that statement should immediately withdraw it and apologise to Nigerians.
“How can they say that the Igbo should leave the North? If we may ask, who are those youths or Northern youths who are saying the Igbo should leave the North?
“As a zonal youth leader in the current Nigerian government in charge of North Central, I think I have a say as regards the position of the majority of the Northern youths. We are saying that the unity and progress of this country is bigger than any group or individual.”
While calling on Igbo to ignore the call for them to leave the region, the youth leader assured that North-central would continue to work with all regions and ethnic groups in the marriage called Nigeria to ensure the success of the project.
Meanwhile, axed deputy national publicity secretary of the party, Comrade Timi Frank, has appealed to the Federal Government not to discountenance agitation for restructuring of the country.
In apparent reference to the declaration of the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed who said restructuring was not the priority of the present administration, Frank admonished the government to have a rethink, as he noted that “restructuring does not mean break-up.”
“It is now very clear from different utterances coming from regional leaders that most people are tired of the current system. Therefore, for us to continue to keep Nigeria together, Nigerian government must restructure the country.
“We must also learn quickly from what happened in Rwanda and Sudan. That’s why I’m appealing to the government to please reconsider the voices of most Nigerians calling for restructuring.”
Frank further appealed to Nigerian youth to refrain from inflammatory comments that could undermine the corporate existence of the nation, warning them not to allow themselves to be used by “some politicians disguising in the name of fighting regional cause.”
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