Renaissance Agenda, IRA, on Monday
warned that if anything happens to the
leader of the Indigenous People of
Biafra, IPOB, Nigeria “would not
survive it, even a minute longer.”
The group issued the warning while
reacting to a recent call by Arewa
youths asking the Acting President,
Yemi Osinbajo to arrest the IPOB leader
for what it termed “threat to national
security”.
Reacting to the call, IRA, in a statement
by its Coordinator, Jude Ndukwe and
Secretary, Amaka Ekwo, described the
call as “hypocritical and callous.”
The group warned that the era of the
North “lording it over Nigerians and
cowing the rest of the country into
silence was long over.”
IRA noted that rather than been
“obsessed” with Kanu, Arewa group
should “face the cankerworm and work
assiduously to tackle the menace of
terrorism, abject poverty, illiteracy,
disease, laziness (a vice that makes them threaten to acquire properties of
Igbo by seizure) etc that ravage their
region”.
Clainig that the ultimate target of the
Arewa youths was to see to the failure
of the Acting President, IRA said, “They
are looking for ways of pushing
Osinbajo into making monumental
errors that are capable of imploding the nation so that they would turn
around to say he lacks the capacity to
lead thereby using that alibi to create
chaos that could see him ousted and
have any of their kinsmen replace
him.”
The statement reads, “Following the
call last week by the Arewa Youth
Assembly to the Acting President to
arrest the leader of the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu,
for what they termed “threats to national security” arising from his
movements in parts of his country, we,
the Igbo Renaissance Agenda, IRA,
wish to state that such calls are not
only hypocritical and callous but also
prove that the real enemies of Nigeria are the several Arewa groups being
used to achieve some sinister agenda
by their elders.
“We are alarmed that while the
dreaded Boko Haram and Fulani
herdsmen terrorists designated as the
most dangerous and fourth most
dangerous terrorist groups in the
world respectively are having a field day killing innocent Nigerians almost
on a daily basis especially the latest
one in Maiduguri where oil explorers,
university lecturers, staff of NNPC and
our security agents were mowed
down in cold blood, some still missing while some others were kidnapped,
the concern of Arewa groups is an
Nnamdi Kanu who is non-violent,
never kidnapped anyone, nor
requested for ransom from anybody
unlike terrorist groups from Arewa’s enclave.
“While the Arewa controlled military
and other security forces keep
releasing dangerous terrorists into the
society in the name of de-
radicalisation, they also empower
them by giving them huge sums of money in exchange for kidnap victims
thereby compromising the general
safety and well being of law abiding
Nigerians.
“The non-prosecution of a good
number of these criminals and their
funding by Arewa-led government
agencies in the name of ransom
payment have the unimaginable
propensity to embolden the them to carry out the kind of brazen attacks
they did in Maiduguri and other places
in recent days. This should be the
concern of any reasonable Arewa
group.
“Rather than face the cankerworm and
work assiduously to tackle the menace
of terrorism, abject poverty, illiteracy,
disease, laziness (a vice that makes
them threaten to acquire properties of
Igbo by seizure) etc that ravage their region, they are so obsessed with the
legendary Nnamdi Kanu who has
always conducted himself peacefully
everywhere he goes.
“We know the main objectives of the
Arewa youths and their elders. We
know that their other target is
Osinbajo. They are looking for ways of
pushing Osinbajo into making
monumental errors that are capable of imploding the nation so that they
would turn around to say he lacks the
capacity to lead thereby using that
alibi to create chaos that could see him
ousted and have any of their kinsmen
replace him.
“Our message to the Arewa youths and
their elderly sponsors is simple: we
dare anyone to touch Nnamdi Kanu
and see if the nation would survive it
even a minute longer.
