We’re Working On Referendum For Igbo Exit From Nigeria – Arewa Youth

Yerima Shettima, Arewa Youth leader, has claimed a Biafra referendum is in the works to usher Igbo out of Nigeria.

“We still insist on the call for a referendum for the Igbo to leave the country; we are working on it,” said Yerima in an interview with PUNCH.

The Arewa Youth leader said this following withdrawal of the October 1 quit notice handed Igbo to quit northern Nigeria.

But despite the withdrawal, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had warned southerners against heeding to the group’s advice.

“We urge all southerners in the core north to return home before October 1 as history will most definitely repeat itself.

“Southerners were massacred in the pogroms of 1966 and 1967 after similar assurances were issued then that people should remain in the north,” IPOB had said.

In reaction, Yerima said “There is no need for them (Igbo) to go anywhere. They can ignore IPOB; they are not even popular.

“We have a culture; we have a background and when we say something we stand by it. We are not like IPOB that talks from both sides of the mouth.

“Before we arrived at our decision, we consulted widely. Our people are not violent. We have leaders and when they speak, we obey them. It is part of our culture.”

Yerima said, however, that Arewa Youth’s insistence for a referendum to be called was for it “to be enshrined in the constitution.”