We’ll resist IPOB’s attempt to export activities to our region – Northern youths

Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) on Monday urged the Northern governors to close any business premises or shop that complies with the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra’s (IPOB) sit-at-home order in the region.

The National President of AYCF, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, who made the call in a statement in Kaduna, asked the governors to resist any attempt by separatist groups to infiltrate the region.

He stressed that the Northern youths would not be a party to “a deliberate and politically-motivated plan to worsen the nation’s current security challenges.”

He also decried the inaction of the South-East governors on IPOB’s sit-at-home order, saying “we hope they will continue with the sit-at-home for another 10 years.”

Shettima added that Northern youths would resist any attempt by the group to take its activities to the region.

The IPOB had ordered a sit-at-home in the South-East in a bid to force the Federal Government to release its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

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The statement read: “We call on Northern Governors to step up action in order to ensure that IPOB does not infiltrate the region. We also expect the governors to ensure that any Northerner who shuts down his shop in solidarity with IPOB, that shop should be sealed forever.

“We will not fold our arms and watch the North get further destabilised by a violent strategy, whether in Kogi, Benue, Plateau, Niger or any state in Northern Nigeria because our hands are already full with challenges of insecurity and we are praying fervently day and night to find lasting peace.

“It seems governors of the South-East are satisfied with the activities of IPOB, we hope they will continue with the sit-at-home for another 10 years and we wish them the very best of luck. We know the South-East is IPOB’s home but exporting their activities to the North will be faced with massive resistance from all lovers of peace in the North.

“The North has come a long way in understanding the use of constitutional and democratic means of channelling legitimate grievances, and cannot, therefore, be a party to any undemocratic move.

“We call on Northerners of good conscience to avoid any undemocratic means, including the burning of government-owned structures, where fellow Nigerians legitimately work to feed their families.”

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