SAN FRANCISCO, 07, (THEWILL) – Youths of Nigeria’s North-Central zone under the aegis of the Middle Belt Youth Council, MBYC, have disagreed with the threat by a coalition of northern groups who had on Tuesday declared that the Igbo would be evicted from the 19 northern states should they fail to leave the region in three months.
This was as they expressed the readiness of the people of the Middle Belt region to accommodate the Igbo if the core northerners chase them out of their states. The Middle Belt region comprises the FCT, Kwara, Benue, Niger, Kogi, Plateau and Nasarawa states.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by its president, Emma Zopmal, MBYC said the Middle Belt is ready to offer Ndigbo asylum anytime, any day, stressing that the belt had been home for the people of southern Nigeria without any form of discrimination.
The group, which also kicked against the open grazing of cattle by herdsmen, said; “Middle Belt Youth Council is extremely concerned about the ongoing regional tension in Nigeria today and we want to make our position clear to the world.
“In the light of incessant threats to one Nigeria posed by killer-herdsmen, we want to call on good people of Middle Belt to first of all, support the Anti-grazing Bill.
“Grazing by Fulani herdsmen on our land has become the major cause of conflicts in our region. Therefore, we’re calling for total ban on open grazing so as to save the lives of our people and their farmlands.
“Secondly, it’s no longer news that our country Nigeria is facing a daunting challenge of peace and unity but we want to assure the good citizens of Nigeria that we have been a peace-loving people and we’ll continue to be.
“But, in an event one part of the country decides to go away as a separate entity, Middle Belt is also ready to make an independent statement. We want to clarify those who think that the Middle Belt is part of the North: God created everywhere and everyone and He gave it to whom he chooses and Middle Belt is a creation of God and not man (Usman bn Fodio).
“Therefore, we choose what to use our land for, how to run it and where we want to be.
“Middle Belt has been a home for the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, South-South and the South-West without any form of discrimination against anyone.
“We’ve accommodated every Nigerian for centuries now. We deserve respect and commendations.”
