Nigerian Reps want President Buhari to intervene in face-off between Northern youths, IPOB

Members of the lower house of Nigeria’s National Assembly, on Thursday, called for President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in a boiling crisis between some Northern groups and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which is rekindling decades-old tensions in Africa’s most populous county.

Buhari, 74, has been away for almost a month now, after leaving for London for the second time to seek treatment for an undisclosed ailment.His absence has led to some anxiety in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, with people speculating about whether he will be able to resume his duties.

Yemi Osinbajo, to whom President Muhammadu Buhari handed power after going to Britain on medical leave on May 7, is currently visiting the northeastern city of Maiduguri after an attack by Boko Haram jihadists which killed 14 people and injured 24 others, his spokesman said on Thursday, spokesman Laolu Akande tweeted.

An ethnic uprising adds to already biting security concerns and could undermine efforts to attract investments to Nigeria- in its second year of an economic recession.

The Northern groups, 16, threatened to forcibly remove people originating from the nation’s southeast- the Igbos- if they don’t leave the region by October 1, drawing condemnation from the authorities and other northerners. The Kaduna State government said all the signatories to the “hate speech” delivered in the declaration published on Tuesday would be arrested.

The House of Reps called on the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to be on the alert in the bid to forestall breakdown of law and order across the country following the relocation threat issued by the Northern group, while stressing the need for urgent intervention of Federal Government to avert a looming national crisis.

The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of the motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Oghene Egoh (PDP-Lagos).

The youth groups said in their statement that Igbos are a “threat” to national unity because some Igbo organizations still advocate independence. They called on northeners to seize control of land and properties owned or rented by Igbos in the region after the expiration of the ultimatum.

Nigeria fought a 30-month civil war from 1967 to 1970 after the  southeastern region tried to break off and create the independent state of Biafra. As many as three million people are believed to have died in the war, which was prompted by a 1966 coup led mainly by ethnic Igbo officers from the predominantly Christian south against a government dominated by northern Muslims. That led to a revenge coup six months later and the massacre of tens of thousands of Igbos across northern Nigeria.

As part of the campaign by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the actualisation of Biafran Republic, agitators have called in their people to come home and shut down major towns in the South East on May 30, 2017.

“The House is concerned that the two calls create alarming twist which is ominous and dangerous for the good health of Nigerians. The House is further concerned that this motion is not interested in the merit or demerit of Biafra, nor is it interested in apportioning blame on those who made the two unpatriotic calls,” Egoh said.

“Rather this is only concern for the nation’s leaders to immediately intervene to stop these agitations from resulting in violence that may consume the entire nation and for the National Assembly and the Presidency to wade into the issue by dialogue with the protagonist of ‘come and leave our land’ and ‘return home immediately’ groups to avoid damage to our collective nationhood.

“The House is of interest that while people have the right to their views and decisions about lives, as an institution of government, National Assembly must rise to the occasion we find ourselves and put an end to the confusion that is brewing by appealing to both parties to withdraw their demands to avoid loss of lives especially that of innocent children, women and the trebles who are not part of the problem,” Egoh warned.

To this end end, the House urged both parties to rescind their decisions, just as the lawmakers called on Federal Government to urgently wade into the crisis on time in order to avoid loss of lives and properties that the actualisation of the parties’ threat may occasion.

Nigeria has in recent years seen a rise in other ethno-religious conflicts, particularly deadly clashes between Muslim herders and Christian farmers, partly over land use, in the region known as the Middle Belt.

 

 

KEHINDE AKINTOLA (Edited by LOLADE AKINMURELE)