S’East govs vow to lay down their lives to protect northerners

The governors of the five eastern states of the country on Thursday said that any Igbo who would want to kill a northerner in the region should first kill them. They reiterated their resolve to remain partners in progress with other components of the country to build a united Nigeria.

The statement by the governors followed a similar one by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, who had at the heat of the tension arising from the Nigerian Army clash with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Aba, Abia State, said that “whoever wants to attack the Igbo, should attack him first.”

The position of the governors was made known by the Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, when the group paid a courtesy visit to Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State.

The president-general of Ohanaeze, Nnia Nwodo, who led the team, accepted that the country was in trying times, but said that under no circumstance should anyone allow it to degenerate into another civil war.

He said, “Yes, our country is going through a trying period. We should, under any circumstances, not experience another civil war. We should not allow personal emotions to undermine our national unity.”

Nwodo told Tambuwal that the visit was at the instance of the South-East governors and other stakeholders from the South-East geopolitical zone. He used the occasion to commend the Sultan of Sokoto, who he said portrayed himself as a father in the ongoing ethnic tensions.

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“Sultan saying that whoever wants to attack the Igbo, should attack him first,’ was worthy of commendation. In the same vein, I came with the assurances of the South-East governors that any Igbo, who want to kill a northerner, should first kill them.

“We must remain partners in progress of our country, as we have seen how our own fathers and forefathers live to make it grow and develop to its present stage,” Nwodo said.

The visit was apparently a return of the visit by some northern governors led by Tambuwal to the governors of the South East following the tension that erupted in Abia state allegedly leading to the deaths of many IPOB supporters and attacks on northerners in the Southeast region.

 

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