Boko Haram’s Struggle For Islamic Rule Also An Agitation For Secession, Ohanaeze Carpets Northern Youths
The Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has blasted the Northern Youth Group for insinuating that all Igbos are canvassing for a sovereign state of Biafra.
In a statement signed by its Deputy Publicity Secretary, Chuks Ibegbu, in reaction to a letter written to Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo by a coalition of Northern youths, Ohanaeze said that the agitation for secession was not peculiar to the Igbo as claimed.
In the letter, the youths had appealed to the Acting President to allow Igbos actualise their struggle for Biafra Republic.
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Ibegbu noted that terror group Boko Haram’s struggle for Islamic rule in the North, using violent means is a form of agitation for secession, adding that the northern youths should stop removing “the speck in another person’s eyes”.
Ibegbu said Ohanaeze was interested in restructuring and not secession, adding that the northern youths had no right to speak for the Igbos.
He said, “In the first place, I want to thank the Acting President for the role he is playing in this situation. He is a peacemaker and he has shown himself to be conversant with the dynamics of leadership.
“The Acting President has told all the parties to allow peace to reign. Igbo are peaceful people; so, we will abide by what he said.
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“We are conscious of what the Acting President told the Igbo leaders and the traditional rulers when they visited the Presidential Villa. Therefore, we will not be drawn into taking issue with these northern youths; they are people who have shown themselves to be lawbreakers and warmongers.
“The activities of these Arewa youths have shown that there is more than meets the eye to the ultimatum they gave the Igbo in the North. They simply want to drag the country into another war.”
“That some individuals are pushing for self-determination in the South-East does not mean that the Igbo want to secede. The real situation is a protest against marginalisation.
“We should not forget that even now, as we speak, the Boko Haram sect is still canvassing Islamic rule in the North, using violent means – that is a form of agitation for secession.
“So why should the northern youths ignore the log in their eyes to bother about the speck in another person’s eyes; why the venom against the Igbo?”
