Igbos in the north get 3 months to quit the region as Biafra agitation heats up

    

There could be heightened tension in the country soon as the Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY) have issued a quit notice to Igbo people in the region. The CNY also asked all civil society groups to begin to carry out enlightenment while calling on northerners in the south-east to come back home Igbo people in the north have been given three months to leave the region as the clamour for Biafra continues to gain momentum. The quit notice to all the Igbos in the region is coming from the Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY). It was learnt that the group also urged northern people in the south-eastern part of the country to immediately start moving back to their various states.

Speaking at a press conference at the Arewa House Kaduna on Tuesday, June 6, a top member of the group, Alhaji Abdulaziz Suleiman, said all northern civil society and pressure groups are mandated to mobilize for sustained and coordinated campaigns at their respective states. 

Suleiman, who is of the Northern Emancipation Network, said all civil society group should begin to mount pressure on government houses, state Houses of Assembly, local government council secretariats and traditional palaces for steps to be taken to ensure enforcement of the directives.

He said: “We are hereby placing the Nigerian authorities and the entire nation on notice, that as from the 1st October, 2017, we shall commence the implementation of visible actions to prove to the whole world that we are no longer part of any federal union that should do with the Igbos.

“From that date, effective, peaceful and safe mop-up of all the remnants of the stubborn Igbos that neglect to heed this quit notice shall commence to finally eject them from every part of the North.

“And finally, all authorities, individuals or groups are hereby advised against attempting to undermine this declaration by insisting on this union with the Igbos who have thus far proved to be an unnecessary baggage carried too far and for too long.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Tribune reports that the signatories to the declaration included civil society groups like Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum, Northern Emancipation Network, Northern Youth Vanguard, Northern Youths Stakeholders Forum and the North-east Assembly. 

Earlier on, a report that followed the success of the sit-at-home exercise called on Tuesday, May 30, by agitators, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, stormed Enugu on Wednesday, May 31. 

Kanu held a closed door meeting with some south-east leaders under the auspices of the Ala Igbo Development Foundation (ADF). 

The meeting is said to have lasted for over two hours. The Guardian reports that the meeting was chaired by the president of the ADF, Prof Uzodinma Nwala.