Quit Notice: October 1 remains sacrosanct – Arewa Youths

A coalition of northern youth under the auspices of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum has affirmed that the October 1 quit notice issued to Igbo people remains unchanged despite the campaign from some corners that it has been relaxed but pointed out that government and the United Nations have the final say on the independence of Biafra.

The president of the forum, Shatima Yerima, disclosed this at the Coalition of Northern Groups town hall meeting in Kano, saying that contrary to speculations that the forum has relax the notice, the October 1 notice remains sacrosanct, insisting that all Igbo’s leaving in the North should to comply with the orders if they want to exit from Nigeria.

He said, “We will not use force to drive anybody out of the northern region but whoever wants secession is free to leave the region and those who want to stay in Nigeria are welcome by the forum because that what we stand for.”

Clarifying the position of the group Yerima said, “Our stand is that whoever wants pull out of Nigeria is free to do so. We have no problem with that. The agitators of Biafra are doing their bidding and we in the north are also doing ours.”

The President of the Arewa Citizen Action for Change, Nastura Ashir Sheriff, who was also present at the meeting said, “Based on the advice of some notable northern people, we have decided to expand the agitation to tackle challenges of drugs abuse, security, unemployment and economy that have been affecting the region for a very long time.”

According to him, northern youths would continue with the struggle in order to build a brighter future for themselves and the unborn generation, saying, “if we fail to do it, who else will do it for us?

“Take for instance the issue of drug abuse in the north; we have discovered that it was a deliberate effort by some people to destroy the north. It is so because the future of the region largely depends on its youth and if the youth are pushed into drugs abuse automatically, the future of the region is destroyed.”

Sheriff further pointed out that the northern youth had done their own part by presenting their case to the federal government and the United Nation for further necessary actions about the Biafra agitation.

“We have written a letter to the acting President Yemi Osinbajo stating our position in details. We have also presented evidences including video clips to the United Nation containing visual of the leader for the emancipation of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu insulting northerners and calling us with all sort of bad names under the guise of agitations.

“So, we have made our stand clear. Now is left for the United Nations, federal government and the agitators to settle the matter. If the United Nation approve for the creation of Biafra fine, if not it is not our own problems,” he said.