SAN FRANCISCO, 07, (THEWILL) – Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-political organisation, has declared that the Yoruba nation of the South West will not be a party to any war against the Igbos.
THEWILL recalls that the Northern groups, headed by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, on Tuesday, announced that all Igbos resident in the Northern parts of Nigeria have three months to quit or be forced out after the expiration of the October 1, 2017 deadline.
The ultimatum, handed down at a well-attended press conference held at the Arewa House, Kaduna, followed the sit-at-home order enforced by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra on May 30, 2017 which the five South-East states complied with.
Responding to the ultimatum, Yinka Odumakin, spokesman for Afenifere, declared that the call by Arewa groups asking the Igbo to vacate the north, is not good for the country saying the Northern group is “holding a knife to the tiny rope that still holds the country together.”
Odumakin added that unlike 1967, the Northerners had no coalition to fight the Igbo as he called on the Northern elders to caution the youth insisting that the Igbos were just trying to make their grievances known in a peaceful manner.
“Carrying out their threats would be a prelude to another pogrom,” Odumakin said.
“These elements have over the years showed their propensity to attack people, but like the Chinua Achebe said, they are holding a knife to the tiny rope that still holds the country together.
“I hope that if they still have elders, their elders should call them to order, otherwise, it may be the beginning of the end of Nigeria, as we know it.
“They should know that in 1967, they had a coalition to fight the Igbo but that coalition is no more there today. We know the people that fought the last war and won it.
“I can boldly speak for the Yoruba nation, that if the north thinks they can declare another war against the Igbo, it would not work. If they see any Yoruba man joining them to fight the Igbo, then that person must be a mercenary.
“The Igbo were not fighting, neither were they causing any crisis, but were just trying to make their grievances known in a peaceful manner.
“Why should they be threatened? For northerners to tell them to leave the north is sad for the polity.”
