A coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) said the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho is not the solution to separatist agitations insisting that referendum is the way to go.
CNG in a press statement issued by the spokesperson Abdul-Azeez Suleiman said, “From the outset, we wish to be categoric that the arrest of Igboho and Kanu should not be mistaken as bringing about the end to the uprisings and disturbances over self-determination perpetrated by southern Nigerian elites and governments who use thugs like Igboho and Kanu.
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“We insist that rather than seeing the arrest as an end in itself, it should be the beginning of the processes for self-determination by any unit that wants to go. Therefore, we insist on a peaceful referendum for separation from a people who would at the slightest of pretexts, attack, kill and destroy people of other regions and their properties especially those from the North”.
CNG said the arrest of Igboho is government business and so long as it conforms with the principle of rule of law and international criminal justice procedures, stressing that “We are not yet sure what he is going to be charged with, but expectedly incitement to violence against northerners would be one of them.
“We all know that threats of violent secession anywhere are a grave offence that no government will condone. From records of history, it is only northern Nigeria that has not called for the breakup of the country at the slightest of pretence. With the arrest of Kanu and now Igboho, we are hoping that the government would go beyond prosecution to digging up and exposing their sponsors and the agenda behind them.
“While Kanu’s case may be attributed to some form of insanity which was exploited by the South East elite who were playing a double game, Igboho is a deliberate and calculated, supported and encouraged attempt by the Yoruba leaders including their governments to scare the North into agreeing to cede power without competition.
“Unfortunately, they took it too far by arming Igboho and setting him against law-abiding citizens from other regions particularly the North”.
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