Following the withdrawal of the quit notice handed down to Igbo living in the north by the Arewa Youth and a Coalition of Northern Youth Groups, a top member of the group has revealed the reason behind the move.
Alhaji Yerima Shettima, while speaking on the quit notice withdrawal stated that the group made the move as a sign of honour and respect to the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.
The National President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima, further stated that the quit notice has before it was called off achieved the aim which it was set out to achieve.
He noted that the quit notice was initiated as a strategy to make Igbo leaders distance themselves from the pro-Biafra group, IPOB, led by Nnamdi Kanu.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Shettima said: “In the first place, we considered the fact that we are not agents of destruction. We are agents of building a progressive Nigeria.
“You will also recall that the reason we went to the extreme of doing what we did was as a result of the mad agitation coming from the South East.
“No tribe or people will allow anyone to abuse the sensibility of their leaders and get away with it without any caution. So, we felt that the silence of the leaders and traditional rulers of the South East is a conspiracy of silence to allow Nnamdi Kanu to continue with his quest, we felt there was need at that time to do what we did.
“Unfortunately, time has over taken a lot of things but we have seen that political leaders and leaders from the South East have come out to condemn the activities of the young man. The leaders are also coming out to say that they don’t believe in Biafra but in one Nigeria, it is commendable.
“There was also pressure and intervention from our leaders, they spoke to us to withdraw the notice and we listened to their counsel. You will also recall that the Sultan of Sokoto called us to intervene, the northern leaders also spoke to us followed by other prominent northern leaders as well as other stakeholders”.
He continued: “Even before the president’s return, we had written to the Acting President of our plans to withdraw the quit notice on a particular date. We are not ready to join issues. Anyway, there is nothing bad if we honor our president, Mohammadu Buhari. He says he does not want anything that will divide the country. We have obeyed him.
“If we do that, there is nothing wrong in that . We are proudly Nigerians and he is the President of Nigeria we are looking for ways to build the nation and not destroy the nation”.