Arrest those who signed quit notice now - Arewa youths tell Osinbajo

A group of northern youths under the umbrella of Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) has called for the arrest of Northern youths who signed the Igbo eviction notice.

The group in a statement recently released also urged Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to sack the Inspector General of Police, Director of the Department of State Service and the National Security Adviser.

The group insisted that these security personnel have failed to do their job by refusing to arrest those behind the controversial quit notice.

News earlier reported that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state had ordered that the youths be arrested. Up till now, this has not been done.

In the statement signed by its speaker, Mohammed Salihu in Kaduna on Friday, June 23, the group advised Osinbajo to immediately order the arrest of Arewa youths who signed the eviction note.

The statement reads: “Acting president should move ahead and order the arrest of all those behind this plot and even Biafra agitators and bring them to book. While the NSA should be sacked and the DG –SSS, I.G for failing to apprehend all those behind the Kaduna declaration.

“If no arrest is made to serve as a lesson to others, next episode will be a full scale war and lives and properties will be destroyed by the followership of ember of disunity. What make Americans great is the supremacy of her citizens, the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable and can’t be left in the hands of misguided rascals.

“While the sack of the security chief should be treated with dispatch and levity because whosoever descend into the arana of conflict will not escape the dust of the encounter, we should question the character of some of our elders we found their effusions rather too insensitive to bear especially in a country that is sitting on a delicate balance.

“Their support of Kaduna declaration have made the North to South, East to West our language of engagement loaded with tempers that are waiting to explode.

“While agitation for Biafra has attained a dizzying height, on October deadline, all you hear is languages of war and war alone. If separation would answer all the questions, examples from South Sudan are not something to relish. Even if we agreed to go our separate ways is not synonymous with development and peaceful – coexistence.

“To our elders, they should always encourage our young people to see strength in our diversities, forge a national consciousness that would gravitate towards positive development; they should always promote national peace and unity.

“It is not enough to lament what has happen in the past, it is more important and more noble to do something now in order to reshape the future of our beloved country Nigeria.

“Arewa Youth Assembly is pressing home its demand by staging a peaceful protest for the sack of NSA, DG/SSS, I.G of police and the arrest of all those behind Kaduna declaration.

“We call on the acting president to constitute without delay an all embracing, credible and sincere peace and reconciliation committee to resolve the brouhaha.

“Arising from the above, the forum therefore advises all parties to remain calm and guard against provocative utterances in order not to further polarize the system."

Meanwhile, Pro-Biafra agitators and northern youths issuing threats to Igbos have been warned to desist from such provocative actions by a retired deputy inspector general of police, Udom Ekpoudom.

Ekpoudom stated that while it was easy to speak of violence, if they witnessed bloodletting on a large scale, such persons will run.

According to Ekpoudom, instead of issuing threats to split Nigeria, Biafra agitators should continue to draw the attention of the federal government to issues of neglect and marginalization.

Watch video of Nnamdi Kanu addressing followers in Isiama Afara, Abia state: