The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has said those agitating for Nigeria’s disintegration should be decisively dealt with.
Yerima Shettima, National President of the AYCF, made the remark in an interview with Daily Post.
Shettima said those whose agitations are endangering the lives of Nigerians should be dealt with in line with Buhari’s directive.
Faulting the violent approach of IPOB, Shettima pointed out that the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, go about their agitation peacefully without endangering the lives of Nigerians.
Shettima said, “All of us are victims of the society today in one way or the other, so if, something goes wrong, you don’t have to behave abnormal. When you look at the situation on ground and think the only way out is to become violent at the expense of people’s lives, then such agitation is not worth it.
“Yes, certain things went wrong and we also, in Northern part of the country have suffered the same problem. In fact, we have even suffered more than where the agitation is coming from.
“Can the situation today in the North-West or North-East be compared to the realities in the South-West and South-East? The answer is no. For over two decades now, we have been suffering from one trouble to another. From poverty to marginalisation to deprivation and so on, even at that, we never deemed it necessary to take up arms against the state; so, no matter how you look at it, their approaches are wrong.
“Don’t we have other groups agitating, like MASSOB? Do you see MASSOB endangering the lives of innocent citizens of the Southeast? The answer is no. Was it not from MASSOB IPOB broke out and is led by that blind man who puts the lives of people in danger? MASSOB goes about their demands which are very genuine by their thinking and feeling.
“MASSOB has said it really believes that the Southeast is being marginalised and if Nigeria can address some of this injustice meted on them, they are willing to come back and build the nation. However, the IPOB’s approach is wrong, and two wrongs cannot make a right.
“Looking at this situation, you can’t solve problems with problems. We have faith in the country despite the shortcomings. We believe some days we will turn things around instead of balkanising the country in the name of agitation. Most of those agitators are young elements who should come together and build a synergy within themselves that would fight against those oppressing them.
“Anybody found disobeying the law of the land should be dealt with decisively; nobody is above the law. If you balkanise the country, where will you go to? You can’t be an American citizen, you will still remain a Nigerian. If you balkanise here, where will you run to? You are a refugee anywhere you run to.
“We suffered during the war and we can’t go back there again. If there is a way we can amend what happened in the past to ensure that the war never happened, we would have done that.
“Everybody suffered for that, so is that where they want us to return to now that there is arms proliferation? We can’t survive a second war, so Nigerians must learn to stay together. We can agitate without endangering the life of anybody.”
