Kinsmen Knock Ango Abdullahi For Trying To ‘Instigate’ North Against Igbos

A northern elder, Professor Ango Abdullahi, has been disowned by his kinsmen after he accused Igbos of being behind most of the attacks against northerners in the southern region.

Abdullahi, who is chairman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), had made the allegation in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during his tour of northern communities in the southern region.

The elder statesman claimed that during the recent #EndSARS protests and violence, Igbos attacked northerners more than any other tribe in the South.

“It is now becoming clear that most of the violence that are being meted out to the northerners in various parts of the South came from people from the south-eastern states. People with some names,” Abdullahi said on Tuesday, adding that, “the North will no longer allow this redline to be crossed.”

But reacting on Friday, the Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, urged Nigerians to disregarded Abdullahi’s “insensitive and callous” remark.

Speaking in a statement by its national coordinator, Engr. Zana Goni and National Women Leader, Hajia Mario Bichi, the group said the professor’s remark was capable of instigating the North against the South.

The statement reads: “We wish to condemn in the strongest possible terms the statement credited to a well-read and respected elder statesman from our region, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, to the effect that Igbo people killed many northerners in the South East during the #EndSARS protest which was hijacked by some sponsored criminal elements.

“This statement is false, unfortunate, insensitive, callous and meant to instigate Nigerians against one other.

“Making this unfounded claim, especially at a time Nigerians had worked past the ugly civil war experiences and are building bridges and consolidating on national reconciliation, is the least unfortunate.

“We wish to let Nigerians know that Prof. Ango Abdullahi’s statement was his personal opinion and did not represent the position of Northern Elders as he had portrayed.

“We expect that an elder statesman of his status with such level of education ought to have known the difference between criminality and ethnic agenda.

“What happened in some South East states was a pure act of criminality and not an Igbo agenda and was not peculiar to the region.

“Nothing can be more misleading than this. People were killed and properties destroyed in several parts of the country including some parts of the North.

“It is unfair to attribute this act of some misguided deviants as a collective Igbo agenda.

“It is an established fact that during and after the uprising, so many Igbo group rose to condemn the attacks by these criminals and even shared intelligence with security agencies which led to the arrest of so many of these misguided youths.

“Prominent groups in Igbo land also condemned the activities of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in public. So, we wonder where Prof. Ango got his fact from.”

According to the group, Abdullahi’s remark was capable of igniting hate across the country.

It added that, “We must continue to preach national unity and work together to defeat criminality in our country instead of attributing such act to a particular region.

“We therefore call our Northern and Southern brother to ignore this statement in its entirety.”