The Coalition of Northern Group (CNG) has accused Southern Governors of sponsoring the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, and arming Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho.
In a statement on Tuesday signed by its spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the group alleged that the governors are sponsoring Kanu and arming Igboho to perpetrate violence against the north and Northern interest in the south.
Reacting to the arrest of Sunday Igboho, the group commended the Federal Government for the arrest of the Yoruba Nation agitator.
The coalition, however, warns that the arrest of Igboho and Kanu will not be the end of the uprising and disturbances in southern Nigeria.
He said, “From the outset, we wish to be categoric that the arrest of Igboho and Kanu should not be mistaken as bringing about the end to the uprisings and disturbances over self-determination perpetrated by southern Nigerian elites and governments who use thugs like Igboho and Kanu.”
“We insist that rather than seeing the arrest as an end in itself, it should be the beginning of the processes for self-determination by any unit that wants to go. Therefore we insist on a peaceful referendum for separation from a people who would at the slightest of pretexts, attack, kill and destroy people of other regions and their properties especially those from the North.
“Igboho would likely be charged with incitement against the North which the coalition claims are in tandem with international law. It noted that only the North has not called for secession from Nigeria at the slightest provocation.
“The arrest of Igboho is government business and so long as it conforms with the principle of rule of law and international criminal justice procedures. We are not yet sure what he is going to be charged with, but expectedly incitement to violence against northerners would be one of them.
“We all know that threats of violent secession anywhere are a grave offence that no government will condone. From records of history, it is only northern Nigeria that has not called for the breakup of the country at the slightest of pretence.”
“With the arrest of Kanu and now Igboho, we are hoping that government would go beyond prosecution to digging up and exposing their sponsors and the agenda behind them.”
This article was originally published on Nigeria News