No more ‘quit notice,’ but…
Many Nigerians heaved a great sigh of relief last Thursday when the Coalition of Northern Youths Groups (CNYGs) withdrew its two months ‘quit notice’ to the Igbo living in the north. Briefing newsmen at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, the groups’ spokesperson, AbdulAzeez Suleiman, announced the immediate suspension of the illegal relocation order handed down to the Igbo, urging them to relocated to the SouthEast.
Suleiman said their earlier demand was in response to the secessionist stance of pro-Biafran groups, such as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). While announcing the withdrawal of the ‘quit notice,’ CNYGs admitted coming under intense and persuasive pressure from genuinely concerned national, political, traditional and religious leaders to retrace their steps. Suleiman specifically acknowledged the role played by the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) through its chairman and Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
Though the withdrawal of the ‘quit notice’ is good radiance for the country, the northern groups’ earlier action was in violation of Section 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The section guarantees every Nigerian the Freedom of Movement, and provides the conditions under which one’s movement could be restricted. It says: “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof, and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereby or exit therefrom.” Without the freedom of every citizen to live or move from one part of the country to another, Nigeria cannot be tagged a nation.
It is very unfortunate that 57 years after the country’s independence, and after fighting a bitter civil war for three years, the peoples of Nigeria have not seen themselves as one entity. We still perceive each other from the prisms of ethnicity and regionalism. As at today, there is an atmosphere of chaos from one part of the country to another over all shades of agitations that snub the legal frameworks available for conflict resolution. There is an apparent overflow of lawlessness, to the point that the nation’s political institutions have resorted to negotiations and pacification of elements who should have been subjected to the wrath of the law.
Now that Arewa youths have renounced the June ‘quit notice,’ we challenge leaders from the South-East region to borrow a leaf from their northern counterparts and prevail on IPOB and its leadership to renounce the agitation for Biafra and violence in the name of demand for referendum on the political status of Nigeria. The group has invoked international laws and treaty to justify their unfounded agitations, igniting the false impression that such treaties endorse terror and violence. They engage in hate speech, the kind that crosses the borders of freedom of expression. The political leaders and elders of the South-East should confidently, not apologetically, impress it upon IPOB and its followers that their activities are illegal. They should tell members of the group the bitter truth instead of shielding and hailing them as a counter force to the federal government. Unity and peaceful coexistence, not dissent and conflict, are what Nigerians need now.
Meanwhile, the prime lesson from the withdrawal of the quit notice is that Nigerians must learn to tolerate one another.We urge traditional and religious leaders and leaders of thought to all give wide publicity to the withdrawal of the ‘quit notice.’ Law enforcement agencies, on the other hand, are encouraged to heed President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to tame hate speech. Only very few Nigerians engage in ‘hate speech’ now. However, if it is not tamed, more Nigerians would be infected with the virus, and as it is wellknown, hate speech is a precursor to violence and anarchy. All hands must be on deck to halt the country’s descent into anarchy.