- A group from the north has advised northerners to ignore the attack on IPOB members in Rivers state
- The group also listed reasons for IPOB agitation
- They claimed IPOB wants to render the country practically ungovernable, and usher in anarchy and instability
A group has urged northerners not to retaliate the recent attack on members of Hausa community in Rivers state on Tuesday, September 9.
The group urged people from the northern region to remain calm in 'the face of provocations' from agitators from the southeastern part of the country.
They also listed some of the reasons why northerners should not retaliate any aggressive actions against their people by members of IPOB.
READ ALSO: Why President Buhari sent soldiers to my house - Nnamdi Kanu
The group made this known in a press release obtained by NAIJ.com on Wednesday, September 13.
The press statement which signed by the group's spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Sulaiman read:
"Recall that in June this year, we led some Northern youth groups and other Northern umbrella organizations to form a Coalition of Northern Groups and took the bold and necessary step to address a petition to the office of the then acting president of Nigeria on the unfolding developments in the country.
"A similar communication was also addressed to the United Nations secretary general and major foreign diplomatic missions represented in Nigeria, in which we drew attention to the emerging trends in the country that are pregnant with complications and unforeseen consequences.
"Our representations in those truly patriotic petitions aim to forestall the drift toward anarchy and bloodshed in Nigeria, and also to alert the federal government of Nigeria and the international community as to where responsibility would ultimately lie if such momentous and terrible events ever came to pass.
"We expected the warning we issued to be seen as a warning from history which repeats itself according to Karl Marx, once as a farce and twice as a tragedy.
"With the current situation in the South eastern Nigeria, it is therefore inevitable that the following conclusions and inferences should be drawn from what compelled us, out of decent patriotism and love of our country and fellow citizens, to act in the way that we did:
1. That the agitations and disturbances that have been ongoing ceaselessly since the coming to power of the Mumammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo administration in 2015, are aimed at rendering the country practically ungovernable, and ushering in of anarchy and instability, thereby occasioning a change of government by whatever means and tactics.
2. That the targeting of President Buhari's administration and singling him for attacks and irreverent treatment is aimed at causing inter-regional crisis possibly leading to general unrest.
3. That the resurgence of separatist agitations especially the violent brand by the IPOB and its ilk in the South-East represents a much wider conspiracy to divide Nigeria along ethnic and religious faultlines as well as achieve the balkanization of the North.
4. That the current IPOB brand of agitation is a strategy employed to achieve the results that the coupists of the First Republic failed to realise, namely, increase the weight and relevance of the regions to the detriment and expense of the central government.
5. That the above strategy is also aimed at diminishing the viability of the North and rendering it incapable of standing on its own two feet and competing favourably with other parts of the country by distabilizing the efforts of the Buhari administration to diversify the economy with emphasis on agricultural revival.
6. That if these ultimate objectives of the South east are not met through agitation, propaganda and clamour, resort will be made to more violent means starting with instigation to more unrest and fanning the embers of religious and ethnic discontent.
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7. That in the South-East, the agitations for separation and the cry for Biafra would become louder and the agitators supported by their politicians, would become emboldened to act in more radical and violent manner, thereby sparking retaliation in the North with subsequent attacks to be perpetrated against Northerners in the South-East.
8. That in such an event the North would would then be held up as the real culprit and the cause of the breakup of Nigeria.
"All the above scenarios are playing out today and are planned to escalate by 2019 and probably in 2018 to prevent a successful conduct of elections and eventually the collapse of democracy.
"In this situation, it is essential that the North and northerners remain restrained and refuse to be provoked into reprisals which is the ultimate hope of the conflict instigators.
"As cultured people with a long history of tolerance and respect for constituted authority, we call on northerners to resist the temptation of carrying out reprisals and playing to the gallery.
"Northerners, in line with their disciplined nature must refuse at this point to be dragged into taking the law in their hands through unnecessary and unproductive confrontations with members of any sectional, ethnic or religious group.
"We must remain peacefully focused, mutually respectful, trusting and tolerant as we repose confidence in the ability and committed willingness of the Nigerian security agencies to handle the situation as well as protect the lives and properties of every Nigerian anywhere," the group said.
NAIJ.com had reported that a video of a military helicopter allegedly hovering over the house of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, had surfaced online.
The video was posted on Facebook on Wednesday, September 13, by Somto Okonkwo, who claims the military helicopter hovered over the house of Nnamdi Kanu for over two hours.
You can watch this NAIJ.com TV video below of Kanu's lawyer talking about the military invasion of his client's house:
Source: Naij.com
ROSY CREST
Wednesday, 13 September 2017