Arewa, Ohanaeze youths meet over Igbos quit notice

- The ultimatum given to Igbos living in the North by a coalition of
northern youths is still fresh in mind
- Some groups have taken it upon themselves to resolve the
issue
- One of such groups is the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council
(OYC)
A report by Thisday indicates that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth
Council (OYC) met with the Northern coalition of youths on
Saturday, July 15.
According to the report, the meeting was with a view to charting
a common course for the peaceful co-existence of various
groups in all parts of the country.
In the meeting, which took place in Abuja, the northern coalition
said it had begun the process of reviewing its demand asking the
Igbos to leave the north by October 1.
The coalition however said it would not back down on its petition
to the United Nations asking it to intervene in the affairs of the
nation.
The northern youths had given the Igbos quit notice in June.
Photo credit: AYLF
On its part, the Ohanaeze youths dissociated themselves from
secessionist agitations, and asked Nigerians to consider such
agitations as “perhaps a cry to redress the noticeable imbalance
in the composition of the country.”
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Speaking with journalists after the meeting, the chairman of the
Coalition of Northern Youths, Yerima Shettima, said the peace
meeting between the two groups led to the formation of a six-
member committee which would facilitate another meeting in the
South-east.
Shettima said: “Leaving Nnamdi Kanu to go unpunished is totally
unacceptable to us because he has so far done much damage
on our psyche and our nation.
“So for us, we think the best we can do is to internationalise this
struggle. Behind the background of what we are doing today,
most likely in the event of anything falling short of what we
agreed, of course we are already in the UN reporting this same
character (Kanu).
“That does not stop us from discussing to arrive at a particular
conclusion where we can have peace for the country.
“On our previous position, we have not officially withdrawn the
quit notice given to the Igbos in the North, but we said it a few
days ago that we will review our position and part of that step is
what we are discussing now.”
While commending the Ohanaeze Youth Council for a fruitful
deliberation, Shettima added: “I thank God we are talking with the
recognised body of entire youths organisation in the South-east
called Ohanaeze Youth Council that is known everywhere.
“This is a welcome development and we are happy that they have
actually sought to get our audience to discuss the way forward
out of these uprisings.
“We are glad to get some word coming out from the leadership
of Ohanaeze Youth Council specifically in the area of seeking to
see us to discuss issues; it means they realised that we are very
angry and a lot of things are out of place as a result of their
short comings in the sense that if they had called the young man
to order, we wouldn’t have gone to this extreme.
“The second one is the assurance given by the president of the
council. If I quote him very well, he said, ‘Nnamdi Kanu is just
looking for self recognition’, and we became more relaxed and
comfortable getting that from him, and the third one is him
making efforts to bring MASSOB and IPOB together for us to go
into a roundtable discussion. I think it is a welcome
development.”
In his briefing, the national president of OYC, Okechukwu
Isigusoro, thanked the northern coalition for a fruitful deliberation,
adding that his council believes in one Nigeria.
His words: “We want to especially thank the Coalition of Northern
Groups for accepting to host us in Abuja. Our talks have been
very smooth beyond our expectations and we want to appreciate
them knowing full well that we thought these talks could have
ended in a fiasco or taken a dangerous dimension.
“But the way they have been peacefully handled it shows that
they are peaceful people. We commend them for that and also
believe that through this dialogue we believe in the future that
there will be no boycott of these talks and if followed peacefully,
we will bring an end to some of our problems in this county.”
OYC national president, Okechukwu Isigusoro said his council
believes in one Nigeria. Photo credit: OYC
Isigusoro however refuted the statement of Shettima on his
stance on some groups, stating that at no time did he raise any
issues on Kanu, IPOB or MASSOB at the meeting.
According to him, his take at the meeting was the positions
taken to resolve the issue of quit notice.
He said: “I spoke on the quit notice and how to resolve it for
everybody to live in peace. That was all. And a committee was
set up. There was never a time I mentioned IPOB or MASSOB in
my speech.”
READ ALSO: IPOB release new sit-at-home order
Meanwhile, the senior special assistant to President Muhammdu
Buhari on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, has decried
the rate at which social media users in Nigeria promote tribalism
on various mediums.
Speaking at the Positive Voices Campaign Project showcase
event in Abuja on Thursday, July 13, Mallam Shehu noted that
Nigeria had dealt with the problem of tribalism in the 1960s but it
is unfortunate that the social media is bringing back this
dangerous trend.
He stressed that it is important that Nigeria remains peaceful,
stating that every Nigerian is free to live in any part of the country
and cannot be threatened by any violence.
Watch Acting President Yemi Osinbajo talk about the unity of
Nigeria on NAIJ.com TV below: