Arewa Youths Forum (AYF), an umbrella body of youths’ organisations in the North, has lambasted the Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
AYF described him as a semi-illiterate loser who wants to be President of Biafra at the expense of his people’s lives.
The North’s youths urged Kanu and his supporters to stop endangering the lives of their brothers in other part of the country, especially in the North.
They noted that if reprisal attacks occurred in the North, the Igbo in the region would sustain far worse losses than any other ethnic nationality.
AYF accused IPOB of planning to plunge Nigeria into a crisis, adding that the North’s group refused to be provoked with the latest action from the pro-Biafra agitators.
In a statement by its National President, Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, titled: Southeast: Time for Reason to Prevail, AYF said Kanu did not have the interest of the Igbo at heart as his actions endangered their lives and property outside the Southeast.
The statement said: “We are working to curtail any reprisal in the North, following the rising tension in the Southeast and North, because of the sad news of the destruction of human lives and property in Abia and Rivers states by IPOB members who allegedly targeted Hausa/Fulani and other northerners in that part of the country.
“We wish to call on our people in the North and all over the country to show a high level of maturity, intelligence and patriotism and avoid being provoked to behave in the same manner like the aggressors who have an ulterior motive of throwing the country into chaos. Let us be different and show that we peace-loving and hospitable to those living among us.
“As a group of youths devoted to the prosperity of Nigeria as an indivisible entity, we refuse to be provoked by a semi-illiterate loser from London, who found his way back to Nigeria and conned his gullible people into accepting him as their so-called freedom fighter and hero, even a Messiah, to many.
“Nnamdi Kanu and the vast majority of his gullible followers were not born when Nigeria fought the Civil War to keep us together. Millions died in the war. These ill-informed persons do not know the misery, deaths and destruction that a war brings. It is, therefore, too easy for them to beat the drums of war.
“Let it be known that as the umbrella organisation of all youths in the North, we are working to see that there is no reprisal anywhere in the North to the wicked and senseless activities of IPOB terrorists who are oblivious of the fact that if reprisal attacks were to happen in the North, our Igbo brothers and sisters living in the region will sustain far worse losses than anybody else.
“However, we are not unaware of the fact that the sanctity of the lives of Nigerians and that of the Igbo in the North in particular and anywhere in the country and the security of their property has never been Nnamdi Kanu’s concern! The man is busy basking in the delusion that he will one day be the Head of State of a nation that he is fighting to install; yet, the wellbeing of the people is never his concern.
“It is very important to alert well-meaning Nigerians that we must not allow ourselves to be used as pawns to achieve an agenda of balkanising Nigeria. We are committed to the oneness of the country and believe that the country is better off as one indissoluble country.
“We must, therefore, avoid reprisals and remain calm and law-abiding at all times, not to play into the hands of the secessionist foot soldiers. We are committed to making all Nigerians happy and safe anywhere in the country and in the North in particular.
“Going forward, we want to align with our northern leaders and northern governors that the North is committed to the unity of the country and the oneness of Nigeria is not negotiable. Let us be wise and ignore the merchants of war.”
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