Quit notice: Kano meeting ends in deadlock

A meeting between Northern youth leaders and Igbo communities in the 19 northern states convened to find a common stand over the October 1, 2017 quit notice issued to Igbo people to vacate the North has ended in a deadlock.

Last Friday, leaders of Igbo communities in the 19 northern states and their counterparts of the Coalition of Northern Groups formed a 10-man committee and gave it a deadline of yesterday to come up with a lasting solution to the October 1 quit notice.

However, a statement jointly signed by the representatives of the two groups and the convener, Chief Chikezie Nwogu (for Igbo communities), Alhaji Dauda Shamakeri (For Northern Youth) and Comrade Isa Tijjani (Convener), revealed that the meeting was postponed till August 17, 2017.

“The committee sat and deliberated extensively and agreed that there is need for further consultations from both sides. Accordingly, the meeting adjourned to reconvene in the next 10 days,” the statement said.

A source in the meeting confided in Daily Trust that the postponement was necessitated by the committee’s inability to come up with a common ground.

“We failed to understand each other. Though the matter was discussed at length, both sides failed to agree on a common decision,” the source said.

The Coalition of Northern Groups in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Abdulazeez Sulaiman, said the group had slated Monday, August 14, 2017 for an international press conference.

The statement said however that the Kano meeting was a huge success considering the range of issues discussed and the caliber of people who attended.

“We opened a dialogue with the leadership of the Igbo communities in 19 northern states which was facilitated by the Department of State Security Service, the Police and supported by the state government,” the statement said.