BEVERLY HILLS, June 23, (THEWILL) – Human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has disclosed that Shettima Yerima, a leader of the northern youths coalition that issued a three-month quit notice to the Igbo residing in the North, lives in Lagos state, and not in the area where he hailed from.
The senior advocate, who made this known at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, asserted that Yerima is a “Lagos man”.
According to him, “The man who is giving quit notice does not live in the north; he lives in Lagos. I am saying this, Shettima Yerima lives in Lagos. He is a Lagos man. So to live in Lagos and be giving quit notice is not the answer”.
Falana went on criticise the spokesman of the Northern Elders’ Forum, NEF, Ango Abdullahi for backing the eviction order, and urged Nigerians to “look at those things that tie us together and not those ones that the ruling class are using to divide our people”.
“Poverty is the same all over the country; injustice is injustice all over. So, there is no nation without challenges and there is no nation without problems. It is the ability of a nation to rise to the challenge that matters,” he said.
The rights activist called for a more concrete conversation on restructuring and federalism, noting that the vocal proponents of both issues are merely showboating and not really keen on them.
According to him, “Those who are talking about restructuring, many of them are talking in the air. We must concretise this now. You can’t have political restructuring without economic restructuring. If you are talking about restructuring, you can’t be selling the assets of the country to individuals.
“Those who are talking of restructuring and federalism are not interested in these areas. But we must all remind them that the Awolowos, the Ahmadu Bellos and the Azikiwes of this world addressed social services for our people. That is no longer the case. So, please this talk about restructuring and federalism must be concretised.
“You can’t be going to Abuja every month to take money and yet, you are talking of true federalism. True federalism means you must produce what you need in your area and then, we can ask everybody to pay tax.”
