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From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Ikwerre People’s Congress (IPC) Worldwide, has flayed Northern leaders for opposing to call for restructuring and sovereign National Conference by some prominent Southern leaders.
The IPC, in a statement issued yesterday, by its chairman, Livingstone Wechie, accused the Northern leaders of the statement, saying their comments were capable of promoting ethno-religious crisis in the country.
Wechie stated: “It is most inconceivable and irresponsible the outburst by certain fellows who refer to themselves as Northern leaders to disparage the call for restructuring and sovereign National Conference by some notable leaders of Southern Nigeria particularly the Afenifere led by Pa Ayo Adebanjo.
“The leaders, who include Anthony Sani, immediate past Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Yerima Shettima, President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum and Prof. Usman Yusuf, former Chief Executive of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), accused the nonagenarian of political mischief, noting that his statement was capable of promoting ethno-religious crisis in the country.
“May it be stated again that the demand made by Pa Adebanjo is an irreducible minimum position of the rest of the disputed Nigeria and nothing short of a nation of equals irrespective of size as well as ethnic autonomy with regards to land and natural resources on and underneath including equal and balance of military and security control.”
He said the Northern leaders should be reminded that the era of a section of the country seeing itself as “born-to-rule, which has manifested in the uncontrollable criminal activities in some parts of the country, was over.
Wechie stated: “These self-acclaimed Northern leaders must be told that the days of Master-Servant relationship in Nigeria are over. This is to the effect that the born-to-rule arrangement by a select Northern oligarchs that held sway resulting in the current uncontrollable terrorism, banditry, senseless killings and economic depression with total governance failure is no longer sustainable.
“They should caution themselves by the language of sessessionist agitations across Nigeria. The simple logic to them is that it is unjust for Nigeria as currently constituted to continue to survive on the blood of the innocent with the outrageous statistics of both reported and unreported daily killings that outnumber the death rates of a nation at war.
“At a time that Nigeria is desperately and frantically looking for solutions to her overwhelming crisis and incontrovertible solutions are being presented, the position of these self-styled Northern leaders can only be regarded as unpatriotic and treasonable.
“It is only wise at this stage for all the land owning ethnic nationalities of Nigeria to seat voluntarily to discuss our future without the unworkable decree of No-go-Areas and non-Negotiability of our complicated relationship. The least to imagine is whether these respondents delight in the way things have gone aground in Nigeria or are they convincing us that they are advocates of insecurity and endemic malgovernance?
“Finally, these persons and their co-travelers should learn from the record legacy of Frederick De Klerk, the recently demised former President and last leader of Apertheid South Africa, who is remembered for ending Apertheid by championing and setting up the Council for Democratic South Africa (CODESA), which negotiated a new all embracing Constitution and ultimately ended the Apertheid Constitution of South Africa which is likened to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
“This is exactly what Nigeria needs now and nothing more pretentious to say the least. They should desist from futile elitist intellectual manipulation because they will have their mass population of disempowered poor to contend with because of their growing consciousness even in the North.”
