THE Leader of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Shettima Yerima, who was among the youths who issued a notice to the Igbo to quit the 19 northern states
Godwin Isenyo, Kaduna
A coalition of northern groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, on Thursday called on the United Nations to declare the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra a terrorist group.
The groups, who gave Ndigbo in the 19 northern states a three-month ultimatum to quit the region before the October 1 deadline, also urged the world body to proscribe IPOB’s “criminal” activities in the country.
Besides, the Arewa group which had a press conference in Abuja, urged the UN to intervene by initiating the process of referendum as a way of settling the agitation by the IPOB.
The group’s spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, said, “As law-abiding citizens, we wrote officially to the United Nations and urged for its urgent intervention in the following two key areas:
“That the UN invokes the relevant statutes to which Nigeria is a signatory to pronounce Kanu and IPOB as terror outfits, proscribe their activities and initiate criminal actions against them.
“Since it is becoming all the more obvious – by the way, IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu enjoy massive support from the Igbo back home – that the issue of the drive for Biafra nation is still a boiling issue, we urge the UN to intervene by initiating processes for a peaceful referendum as the only option to finally settle the Biafran issue.”