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Asking Igbo to leave the north a threat Nigeria’s unity – Ohanaeze
The apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has berated the spokesman for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba- Ahmed, over his broadcast that Igbo should leave Nigeria if they so desire.
Baba-Ahmed had in a widely-circulated broadcast video clip in social media, said, “We said if secession is what every Igbo wants, and this is what the Igbos want, the nation should not fight a war over it”.
He went further to call on the Northerners resident in Southern Nigeria to consider returning to the North.
The comment had attracted a reaction from the presidency, which in a statement by Garba Shehu, slammed NEF, insisting that it had no power to ask the Igbo to leave Nigeria.
Baba-Ahmed had also in his response, berated Shehu, while denying ever asking the Igbo to leave Nigeria.
Entering the mix on Wednesday, Ohanaeze spokesman, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, said the statement by Baba-Ahmed was extremely nauseating, uncouth, provocative, incendiary, inflammatory, and above all, very arrogant and licentious.
Ogbonnia said that Ohanaeze would not have ordinarily responded to boorish and uncultured statements by those who have met civilization half-way.
He said, “We are not distracted by lowly persons who by the circumstances of their birth and conditions in life do not weigh the implications of their public conduct, remarks and actions before going public.”
According to him, “The urbane among us know that Nigeria is one of the countries of the world that unites several nations in one; a federation of various nations or a multinational state. Nigeria, like every other multinational state requires leaders who can formulate ideologies, policies and programmes aimed at galvanizing or harmonising the diverse component units at all times.
“This accounts for such federal government schemes as the National Youth Service, Federal Government (unity) Colleges and other unifying national bodies.
“On the other hand, remarks with centrifugal dynamics are deliberately avoided in order to engender a genuine unity for the multicultural and multinational units of the country.”
The group added, “We reiterate that the broadcast by Baba Ahmed is a threat to peace and unity of the country and the security agencies should act on time to serve as a deterrent to some others harbouring such mindsets against the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria.”
