Niger Delta group condemns hate-speech for disintegration

Ndigbo

• We believe in Nigeria’s stability, unity, says Eze Ndigbo Kano
• ‘You can’t provoke us into another war’
A Niger Delta group, Niger Delta Equity Forum (NDEF), yesterday condemned the recent hate-speech by some youth groups in northern Nigeria giving a deadline for Igbo to relocate from the North.

A statement issued by the Co-ordinator of NDEF, Ejoor Mukoro and made available to journalists in Benin City yesterday, said: “The Niger Delta Equity forum condemns in strong terms, the ultimatum given by some northern groups that the people of southeastern extraction should leave the northern part of Nigeria.

“The Forum believes the problem of Nigeria is not Biafra, and it is not the Nigeria entity, the North, South, East or West. Our problem is the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources.”

In another development, the leader of Igbo community in Kano, the Eze Ndigbo, Chief Boniface Ibekwe, has reassured the commitment of Ndigbo to the unity and stability of Nigeria project.

He implored the Igbo in Kano to go about their normal activities.

Ibekwe, the Eze Diorama (IV) and President-General of all the Ezes in Diaspora, who spoke with journalists in his palace, posited that the Igbo have noting to frighten about. He said the over three million Igbo resident in Kano were peace-loving and would not do anything to jeopardise the unity of the country.

He, therefore, promised that Ndigbo in Kano would soon summon a meeting of stakeholders and northern elders to channel their grievances to appropriate quarters.

Also, the Onyedu Ndigbo of Ibadanland, Chief Aloy Obi, said the Igbo resident in Oyo State were peace-loving and should be allowed to live in peace.

He said: “Those agitating for war against Igbo should be prevailed upon to allow the Igbo reside in any part of the country as provided by the 1999 Constitution.”

Obi, who supported Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, for his tough stance against proponents of disintegration, expressed displeasure at the alleged “seeming lackadaisical attitude of the police towards resolving the situation.”