The Deputy Leader of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Elder Paul Unongo has on behalf of the group deny a statement earlier made by the Chairman of the group, Professor Ango Abdullahi, backing the eviction order to the Igbo living in the north.
The Deputy Leader of the group while addressing the stand of the group’s leader noted that the group does not take sides with the Coalition of Northern Youth and their 3-months ultimatum for Igbo to vacate the northern region.
Unongo added that the ignorant youth were not there when Nigeria lost three million of its citizens to the civil war.
He stated: “I am the Deputy Leader of the Northern Elders Forum and Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Sule is the leader. So, only the two of us can speak for the forum on sensitive matter like this. Therefore, if Professor Ango Abdullahi is backing those ignorant youths, then he is speaking for himself.”
He continued: “We cannot support the nonsense those boys said. We fought civil war with our blood to keep Nigeria one. So, any Nigerian can live in any part of the country he feels like. Igbos are welcome in the North, they are welcome in Yoruba land and my own village in Tiv land and they have right to pursue their daily bread and own property.
“We couldn’t have killed three million people to keep Nigeria one and come back and allow these kids (the Northern Youth Groups) to insult our intelligence. We knew why we fought the war, we knew why we killed the people we loved. We knew why we made the sacrifice of three million men dead. So, Northern Elders Forum cannot take same position as those young men, if at all they took a position.
“So, if the young men cannot build a nation, they should not destroy the one we put our lives on the line to build for them. We cannot allow young men who did not fight the civil war with us to destroy our country, because Nigeria cannot afford another civil war.”