- Kudos to Governor Shettima for making northern youths cancel quit notice
Finally, an olive branch. But this happened a few weeks when it seemed the tension would go up a notch with the circulation of a hate song that savagely stereotyped the Igbo and cast them as sub humans. When the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) , otherwise described as Arewa Youths issued a threat a few months back, many expected that the nation was on a deadly march to a familiar memory: the pogrom of the 1960’s as well as numerous episodes of slaughter of Igbos that included southern minorities, especially from the Niger Delta.
But a few northern leaders lashed out against the ominous words. Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai denounced it. Also with uncompromising language was the reaction of Kashim Shettima, who doubles as governor of Borno State and Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum.
But the condemnations, which included the official statements from the presidency and the office of the inspector-general of police, did little to sway the youths in what they described as the Kaduna Declaration.
The deadline for the quit notice given the Igbo in northern Nigeria was October 1. The order also called for northerners residing in the southeast to vacate the region. Not a few Nigerians thought the threat was flippant, given the historical fact that official threats did not precede the slaughters of the past. Making it official through a press statement made it all the more grave.
The Northern Governors’ Forum consulted with other northern elders as well as the Abdul Salaam Abubakar Peace Committee to dissuade the young men from pursuing their threat. The onus of this task rested on the shoulders of Governor Shettima, who rallied the northern forces, including elders and youths, to persuade the CNG to execute a pirouette on its threats.
It took several meetings behind closed-doors. Eventually, Governor Shettima was able to clinch a resolution from the CNG to withdraw the threat. The CNG agreed and a sigh of relief bubbled through the country.
This did not stop some of the elements of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra (IPOB) to call the bluff of the northerners. Some of them had asked their kinsmen to leave the north. They did not take into consideration the fact that the north is an abode for millions of Igbo who have contributed immensely to the wealth and prosperity of the region, and therefore have stakes in the well being, security and peace of all people who live there.
It was this consideration that compelled Governor Shettima to describe the IPOB leader as acting out of “ignorance and immaturity.” He added that “I would personally prefer to be a small fish in a big pond than a big fish in a small pond.”
Even though the CNG withdrew their quit notice, they gave seven conditions, including a call for referendum for the Igbo in Nigeria and pledged to pursue their declaration in the United Nations.
“In the meantime, we shall firmly pursue our petitions to the United Nations and the Nigerian federal authorities calling for appropriate sanction on Nnamdi Kanu, other IPOB leaders and their sponsors, in addition to labelling them a terror outfit.”
The quit notice was the grist of the declaration, and that was why Governor Shettima focused on it and delivered. The governor showed leadership and patriotism in leading the northern governors to achieve this, and it also shows that we can avoid tensions and deaths when we dialogue rather than take laws and rage in our hands.
We expect that the spirit of dialogue will continue as it guarantees a nation of tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
