News Editor
Peter Jerome
The Northern Elders Forum has stated that no Nigerian should welcome another war to keep the country together. This was stated in a released signed by the forum’s Director, Publicity and Advocacy, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed as part of the forum’s resolutions at their meeting on Monday.
The forum resolved that if support for secession among the Igbo is as widespread as it is being made to look, and Igbo leadership appears to be in support of it, then the country should be advised not stand in its way. Noting however, that it will not be the best choice for the Igbo or Nigerians to leave a country we have all toiled to build and a country we all have responsibility to fix, but it will not help a country already burdened with failures on its knees to fight another war to keep the Igbos in Nigeria.
The Forum insists that attacks and killings of Northerners and Federal Government employees and destruction of National assets must stop, and that those who have been involved in it must be arrested and prosecuted. Until the Igbos decide whether it wants to secede or remain part of Nigeria, the law applies to it, and Federal and State Governors who have responsibility to enforce the law and protect citizens must enforce it.
The forum further extended a call for Northerners who are exposed to harassment and violence to consider relocating to the North, but however reassuring all Igbos and other ethnic groups from the South residing in the North the usual hospitality and security.
Pointing out that the all Nigerians are paying the price of failure of two sets of leaders, that at the national level, the administration appears to have lost the capacity to halt the gradual descent of the country into anarchy, and the political leaders in the Southeast appear to have submitted to violence and terror of IPOB and ESN, the Forum believes that it is vital to address amendments to the constitution and achieve major changes in the structure and operations of our federal system now.
