The pan-northern
socio-political group, Arewa Consultative Forum, has told Igbo leaders to warn
their youths agitating for secession, saying that the issue that led to the
nation’s 30-month Civil War had been settled since 1970.
The ACF also cautioned
the Federal Government against negotiating with the Boko Haram sect.
The group asked the
Buhari administration to shelve any plan, if any, to dialogue with the Boko
Haram insurgents because such attempts in the past had failed.
The ACF Chairman,
Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie, said this at a news conference in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Coomassie said, “The
agitators for this unholy division are in their safe abode outside Nigeria and
the most painful aspect of this agitation by the young Ndigbo elements is the
silence from the elders who experienced the bitter pill of the succession
attempt, the 30-month Civil War and who knew the consequences of such a futile
agitation.
“As you will recall,
the issue of Biafra was settled in 1970 after the war. It is therefore sad and
unfortunate that 45 years after, when Nigerians are now united in a democratic
system of governance, that some elements are now busy drumming up support for
another war and secession through ‘Radio Biafra’ and MASSOB activities.
“Only just over a week
ago, an elder statesman from the South-East celebrated his birthday in Abuja
with the launching of his two books. A good number of leaders from the
South-East attended the event and as the activities progressed, it was nothing
but Biafra with inciting and provocative speeches by one speaker after
another.”
“ACF expects Ndigbo
leaders to come out openly and condemn such agitations in the present day
Nigeria, just as it and others condemned and berated the Boko Haram insurgency
in the North-East.
“We cannot afford to
transit from one insurgency into another.”
On the calls in some
quarters that the Federal Government should negotiate with the Boko Haram sect,
Coomasie such call should be discountenanced by the Federal Government.
He said, “So far, so
good, things are going on as they should and very soon, we will finish off Boko
Haram. If you recall, the Federal Government in the past proposed a dialogue
and even set up a mediation group but the so-called dialogue collapsed.”
- Punch
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