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The President of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Shetima Yerima, has assured Igbos resident in the North of their safety before, during and after the initial October 1 deadline quit notice to leave the region.
Yerima said the decision of the coalition (who came together to issue a quit notice to Igbos resident in the region some few months back) was in the interest of the unity and peace of the progress.
He explained that several well meaning Nigerians have waded into the matter and it was in national interest the quit notice was withdrawn. He told The Sun in an interview that “no evil will befall” the Igbos.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu had earlier rejected the withdrawal warning Igbos residents in the region to leave before the expiration of the deadline or face whatever consequences that might happen thereafter.
However, in a reaction, Yerima explained that Kanu’s rejection holds no water as he (Nnamdi Kanu) is in no position of authority to decide what fellow Igbos do. He said the withdrawal was not made because of him (Nnamdi Kanu) and as such his reaction does not count.
In his words: “Did I do it for him or in the interest of the country? His rejection of the suspension of the quit notice is not important to me.
“What we did was to demonstrate that we have a culture. We give respect to our elders and it was to ensure that the country remains together.
“The country is above anybody. On that basis, his acceptance or not is not important but I know that he also is not speaking for the Igbo. It is a minority view of few people making all sorts of noise.
“It is not really important to me and I do not want to join issues with them. Nigeria is above everybody and I stand on the path of one united country. We have to build a nation that we can call our own
“Nobody would do anything. Anybody who does anything, we make sure that the authorities arrest the person. We are in charge.
“Nobody should be scared of anything. Our youths are reasonable; they are known to respect one another; we listen to our leaders unlike some other parts of the country. But having said that, you can be rest assured that there is no cause for alarm.
“So, let Nigerians be rest assured that nothing would befall anybody by God’s grace and we are working towards that and we would give the government the maximum support. Our brothers across board, we would make sure that no evil would befall them. That is the position of things.”
The Arewa youths President also declared that he has nothing against Igbos, stressing that the quit notice was in the interest of Nigeria.
He said, “A lot of my friends are Igbo people. I have nothing against the Igbo.
“It did not end there; let me also demonstrate that to you; my first wife is from Calabar, the old south-eastern region. We have two kids. I have a good relationship with the Igbo.”