If the Arewa youths who ordered the Igbo in the North out by October 1 were merely testing the waters, they got a largely cold response. But that does not mean some misguided characters cannot cause trouble. ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE reports
A few things have happened since some Northern youths from a coalition of groups on June 6 asked the Igbo in the North to quit by October 1 or be forced out. To start with, the Northern state governments condemned the declaration, with Kaduna ordering the youths arrest. More condemnation followed, including from the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), professional bodies and the political class. Also, even Prof Ango Abdullahi who backed the youths later turned up in Abuja alongside other leaders from the North, pledging to keep the peace, as Acting President Yemi Osinbajo requested. The youths themselves who issued the quit order at the iconic Arewa House in Kaduna appeared to be walking back their threat, saying they never really called for violence.
But it will be naïve to think everything is fine. Barely three days after the Northern leaders’ meeting in Abuja, the social media came alive with reports that some Igbo were killed in an ambush in Kaduna. It took the swift response of both the state government and the Igbo community in the state to dispel the rumour and calm tensions. This shows that the quit notice should be handled with utmost dexterity, requiring a holistic security approach, as well as reorientation of the people, especially youths to avert a looming bloodshed in the country. Beyond the youths and Professor Abdullahi’s initial outbursts, there were clearly some agents of violence planning to hijack the quit notice to unleash mayhem and cause bloodbath.
President-General of Igbo Community Welfare Association, Mr Chris Nnoli, a lawyer, at a joint press conference with the state government at Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Correspondents Chapel said on Friday that after seeing the video leaders of Igbo communities in Kaduna, Zaria and Kafanchan went round the state to investigate and later discovered that nothing of such happened in Kaduna State.
Nnoli who described the video as untrue and inciting said those behind it are enemies of the Igbos, adding that the association has passed a message to all Igbos in Kaduna State to remain calm and law-abiding .
Also speaking during the joint press conference, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan said it is clear that the mischievous video is the handiwork of dark forces bent on sowing and creating panic in communities.
He said, “As you can see, we are here with the leadership of Igbo community in Kaduna State. The story is entirely false and mischievous. The Igbo community in Kaduna is safe, like all our communities, nobody is being attacked and nobody is relocating in fear.”
The state government, however, urged the Igbos and others citizens residing in Kaduna to remain calm as the state government has put adequate security measures to protect life and property of all citizens.
Aruwan who described the video that has gone viral on social media as ‘mischievous’, said “the man behind the unfortunate narrative lied that the attackers slaughtered Igbos, including women and children and their corpses were burnt along the luxurious bus. The so-called eyewitness then appealed to all Igbos residing in Kaduna and rest of the North to relocate to their states of origin and to also avoid traveling en masse considering mass killings in the North.
“The Kaduna State government under the leadership of Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai will continue to uphold and defend the right of every resident of the state to live in peace. Our state is a safe place for all that choose to call it home. The government vigorously condemns the use of social media for purpose of incitement, falsehood and to cause distress to citizens,” Aruwan said.
Beyond the press conference however, there are fears by residents, especially the Igbos that the fake video might just be one of the several cards the troublemakers were planning to play.
Mr. Chucks Obi, a Kaduna-based businessman, said, “I have not seen the video, but someone from the East had called me about it and I found it hard to believe too, but those that posted such video that they must have gotten from only God knows where, are definitely planning something. To me, that this one did not work the way they planned it does not mean they don’t have other plans. So, my advice is that people must be vigilant and government should be proactive if truly they want the Igbos to remain in the North,” he said.
To Mr. Abdulsalam Chima Amadi, attaching a deadline to the quit notice issued to the Igbos is his headache, as he fears that, hoodlums might take undue advantage of the October 1st deadline and start attacking Igbo people.
According to Amadi, an Igbo man who was born and brought up in Kaduna, “I have seen a lot of crises here in Kaduna and it is things like this that lead to crisis. My worry about the quit notice is about the deadline attached to it. Had it been they just said, okay, Igbo people that want Biafra should leave, in fact, I would have supported them, but, when you say, we are giving Igbo people three months, then it means there are consequences. After three months, if Igbos refuse to go and people start attacking them, those who signed the Kaduna Declaration should be held responsible.
“When, you give someone ultimatum, then there will be consequences if the person fails, but when you say, you can go, without attaching deadline, it means, it not time bound, it can be tomorrow, it can be next week or even 10 years to come.
“So, knowing how things happen in the north, if by October that they gave as deadline, Igbos refuse to go, then what happens? There are people who are likely to capitalise on that and start unleashing mayhem on innocent people that did not even know what they are talking about, they don’t know Nnamdi Kanu.
“In fact, to me, it is unfair for anyone to judge an Igbo man by the actions of one Nnamdi Kanu. If you judge an Igbo man based on Ojukwu or Uwazuruike, it is even more understandable, but to judge an Igbo man based on one man that just came from the UK some few months ago, where he was doing his thing, now you want to forcefully associate me with him, that is not fair,” he said.
Just like the state government and the Igbo community leaders rose to set the record straight on the fake video going viral on the social media, there is need for the security agencies to take a holistic and proactive measures to nip the impending ethnic crisis in the bud.
The plan of the producers and those circulating the fake video of ‘ambush and killings’ of Igbos in Kaduna State might be to cause circle of reprisals in the South East and North, the security therefore be on top of the situation.
The governments at all levels must equally do more by sensitising citizens against the looming crisis.
