IPOB rejects Arewa Youths' withdrawal

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has rejected the withdrawal of the threatening quit notice issued by a coalition of northern youths warning Igbos living in the northern region of the country to leave before October 1.

The coalition of 16 different groups had, on June 6, issued a declaration order threatening Igbo residents in the north to vacate the region before October 1, or risk consequences.

The coalition, which includes Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum and Northern Emancipation Network, promised to execute measures to carry out their directive.

After widespread criticism and months of intervention meetings both by the Federal Government and the governors of the country's 19 northern states, the coalition withdrew the quit notice on Thursday, August 24, at a press briefing at the Transcorp Hotel in Abuja.

In an announcement that was made by the group's spokesman, Abdulaziz Suleiman, it said despite the withdrawal, the group will not relent in pursuing petitions to the United Nations and the Federal Government to sanction IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and other IPOB sponsors for their disruptive activities.

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IPOB has issued its own stinging response, as it refused the withdrawal, insisting that Igbos in the northern region should return to the South East before the October deadline.

In its response, the group's spokesman, Comrade Emma Powerful, said the northern group should stick to its word, branding the withdrawal as 'inconsequential'.

Powerful also accused the political leaders of the north of being responsible for fueling the actions of the group in its bid to incite genocide.

He said, "It is inconsequential to IPOB whether the 'quit notice' was rescinded or not because it will in no way impact the pace and direction of our effort to restore Biafra.

"Threats don't have any effect on us, so our advice to the Arewa North is to please stick to the October 1 deadline or else they have no honour.

"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.

"The presence of a serving governor and senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the supposed press briefing confirms what we have always known that the incitement to genocide, which is what the 'quit notice' is all about, has the blessing of the Arewa political class.

"It betrays the mindset of those clamouring for One Nigeria as irredeemable blood thirsty psychopaths hiding behind ethnic bigotry to unleash what will amount to the mass murder of non indigenes resident in core Arewa North."

He also called on President Muhammadu Buhari's administration to arrest the sponsors of the quit notice to show its seriousness in its war against hate speech in the country.

He added, "If President Muhammadu Buhari is at all serious about clamping down on hate speech, he should arrest those behind the 'quit notice’'along with their sponsors.

"Trying to drag the name of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, into their unintelligent blood fest will be resisted.

"If the idea is to cow our leader with calls for his arrest, then those behind the genocidal edict of 'Igbos must leave the North' are even dumber than we thought.

"Nigeria is crumbling today before our eyes due to the arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu; those wishing for him to be arrested again are basically signing the death warrant of Nigeria."

The June quit notice had set off a series of secessionist agitations in the country with several ethnic groups clamouring for separation from the Republic of Nigeria.

However, in his national address on Monday, August 21, President Buhari promised to crack down on anything that disturbs the unity of the country, saying that it is "settled and not negotiable."