OCTOBER 1 QUIT NOTICE TO IGBO: Security beefed up in Sokoto, Kaduna, others

DESPITE assurances by northern youths that they would not attack Igbos resident in northern states tomorrow, state governments have beefed up security across the region.

Northern youth groups under the auspices of Arewa Youths Coalition had, on June 6, given Igbos resident in the North an October 1 deadline to leave for the South East over the agitation for Biafra.

The ultimatum was withdrawn on August 24 following national outcry and intervention of governors of northern states.

In state capitals, particularly in the North West, it was observed on Friday that government was not leaving anything to chances on security of lives and property.

In Sokoto and Zamfara, it was confirmed that security was beefed up on the orders of the governors of the states, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwwal and Alhaji Abdulazeez Yari, respectively.

Speaking to Saturday Tribune in separate interviews, Imam Imam, the media aide of the Sokoto State governor and Ibrahim Dosara, his counterpart in Zamfara State, confirmed that the police and other security agencies had been told to be on the alert.

It was learnt that the heightened security was essentially to forestall any breakdown of law and order against the background of the possibility of hoodlums taking advantage of the original threat against Igbos to cause mayhem.

The withdrawal of the quit notice by the northern youths means that their ultimatum is no longer tenable and therefore Igbos have their nod to continue to stay in that region without let or hindrance.

But the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr Agyole Abeh, in an interview, stated that the police and other security agencies would not take security of lives and property for granted.

“We have deployed our officers in strategic areas ahead of October 1 in order to avoid a situation where area boys and other hoodlums would take advantage of the situation and vandalise the property of Igbos,” Abeh said.

The commissioner assured residents of the state of the readiness of the police to secure their lives and property.

In the same spirit, the state government has obtained an arrest warrant against Arewa youths.

Speaking on Saturday, Mr Samuel Aruwan, spokesman of the state governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, maintained that the warrant was necessary since the original declaration by the Arewa youths against Igbos was made in Kaduna.

Aruwan said the government remained committed to ensuring the safety of everyone living in the state, irrespective of tribe or religion.

However, when contacted for reaction to the arrest warrant obtained by the Kaduna State government, the leader of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima said he had no comment.

But he called on the youth across the 19 northern states to avoid any activity capable of causing breach of the peace on October 1.

“We are in peace mood. We are ready to ensure that the country is peaceful. Don’t attack any tribe, please. Let’s continue to live in peace.

Ahead of the nation’s 57th Independence celebration tomorrow, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja command, Mr Sadiq Abubakar Bello, on Friday, warned hoodlums, miscreants and would-be troublemakers to keep off the nation’s capital and its surroundings.

He declared the city as “danger and security zone” for now.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, on Friday, after a meeting with sister security agencies and other stakeholders within the command over the security challenges arising from the threats and counter threats from different quarters ahead of the Independence Day, Bello assured the residents of the city of safety.

Bello said the police, in collaboration with other security agencies, had mapped out strategies to secure the command before, during and after the celebrations.

The commissioner, who was flanked by religious and traditional rulers as well as representatives of other security agencies, therefore, urged the residents to nurse no fears as the security operatives were prepared for any eventuality.

He equally called on the residents, particularly fun seekers, to feel free to go to amusement parks and other places of interest during the celebrations as the entire command had been fortified.

Bello, however, appealed to religious and traditional rulers, as well as community leaders, to enlighten their followers on the need for peaceful co-existence with people of different tribes and religions.

He urged them to cooperate with the security agencies by promptly reporting suspicious movements or people in their environments at the nearest police station.

Lawyers and human rights activists under the aegis of League of African Democratic Lawyers have protested over what they described as an attempt by the United States government to destabilise Nigeria’s democracy by openly supporting the proscribed secessionist group, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), led by Nnamdi Kanu.

The lawyers said even after being proscribed by a competent court, the US government still went ahead to show support for a group that “has called for violence in Nigeria to achieve their secession plot.”

The Country Representative of the group, Mr John Oboh, in a protest letter delivered to the US Ambassador to Nigeria during a protest, on Friday, urged the US to withdraw its endorsement of IPOB and called for its assurance that it would continue to respect decisions taken by Nigeria in accordance with its laws.

He threatened that the lawyers would carry out civil disobedience in tandem with democratic practices if the tacit support for IPOB by the mission was not withdrawn within 72 hours.

Oboh expressed concern that the action of the US government would encourage other separatist groups on the continent to use violence and high-scale abuse of human rights to promote their “devilish” aim and objectives.

“Considering that the recognition of IPOB will simultaneously reignite all these separatist movements while encouraging even the politically oriented ones among them to turn violent, the various international organisations are not equipped to deal with continent-wide pockets of violent insurrections that will result. The remaining stable countries of the world must then be prepared to host the portion of Africa’s 1.2 billion people that will pour over their borders,” he said.

According to him, consequent upon the group’s fears that a US endorsement of IPOB would spark a wave of separatist agitations across Africa, it is pertinent that the events in Nigeria are assessed on the strength of their continental impact and global ramifications.

“The concern is that not many of these countries have the resources or the framework to contain such agitation with the efficiency with which Nigeria did without creating grave humanitarian situations that require global intervention,” he added.

Also in Lagos, protesters under the aegis of Coalition for the Defence of Nigeria Sovereignty (CDNS), on Friday, besieged the Embassy of the United States to express their disagreement with the US government’s declaration that IPOB is not a terrorist organisation.

The protesters, who carried placards with various inscriptions, said the position of the US on the matter was “abhorrent and highly condemnable.”

According to them, this is in the light of the psychological and emotional trauma that the IPOB has caused the nation collectively as a people.

Addressing newsmen during the protest, national president/convener of the coalition, Chief Bolaji Alabi, maintained that the activities of IPOB were criminal and said that Nigerians, including the Yoruba, had made the choice of a united Nigeria.

Alabi alleged that before it was proscribed, IPBO had attempted to recruit and radicalise Yoruba youths in a bid to create a version of the “terror” group in the South-West.

“IPOB has also been attempting to recruit and radicalise Yoruba youths to create a version of the terror group in the south-west of Nigeria, oblivious of our nationalistic spirit and staunch belief in the unity of Nigeria.

“It was these brainwashed youths that had unsuccessfully attempted making demands for Oodu’a Republic, which does not enjoy any backing among us. The culture of hate speech being promoted by IPOB, which it is teaching these youths, is alien to us as we are taught to be respectful and considerate of other humans.

“We wonder what would be the fate of anyone that repeatedly incite others to violence through the promotion of hate speech and go the extra mile to actualise the threats as we witnessed in Rivers State when IPOB terrorists were stopping commercial buses and singling out non-Igbo passengers, including Yoruba, for attacks,” he said.

Alabi said every recent activity of members of IPOB would lead to jail terms in the US, charging the government of that country to desist from making decisions from the comfort of its chambers.

“Even in the US, every single thing that members of this terrorist group have done in recent weeks will lead to jail terms. The United States should desist from making decisions from the comfort of its echo chambers, in which it only hears itself without the benefit of appreciating what the end recipients of the situation under consideration go through,” he said.

The coalition lauded the proscription of IPOB as a terrorist group even as it called on the US to have a rethink and denounce IPOB.

“Our thoughts are that the United State corrects its mistake within reasonable time so that IPOB would not use its position as an excuse to spread its violence and hatred to other parts of the world.

“We are closely monitoring to see how soon the US would do the right thing by distancing itself from a terror organisation that has the Yoruba in its crosshair,” Alabi said.

………. Don’t forget to like The Drum Online Facebook page and always visit www.thedrumonline.blogspot.com for your news updates.