The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, has frowned at what he called “incendiary, unsubstantiated and provocative statement credited to the leader of the Northern Elders Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, alleging that most violent acts against the northerners are perpetrated by the Igbo.”
Nwodo, in a release by his Media Adviser, Chief Emeka Attamah, on Wednesday, said that the unprovoked outburst by Prof Abdullahi was capable of setting the country ablaze.
He wondered where and when the Igbo could have killed their Northern brothers when there has never been any case of mayhem and killings against the North in any Igbo-speaking state.
Nwodo challenged Prof Abdullahi to make public facts to substantiate his wild and malicious claim, unless it was intended to set up the Igbo for another round of killings in the North, adding that with the statement, the Igbo in the North are not safe.
He also Prof Abdullahi that on the contrary, the Igbo have borne the brunt and have been victims of age-long and misguided attacks and bloody orgies by their northern “brothers” at the slightest upheavals in the country, sometimes even as a result of an event outside the country, and no restitution has ever been made for such losses.
The President General regretted that the Igbo, apart from innumerable dead ones, have lost property valued at trillions of naira during such senseless attacks in the North, yet they are the catalysts of development and the unifying cord that holds Nigeria together.
He told the Northern Elders Forum to exhibit greater caution and wisdom in addressing sensitive national issues like this, rather than stoke further the fire of ethnic violence by making such unguarded, unsubstantiated, garrulous and vitriolic claims capable of igniting fire and breakdown of law and order that could consume the country.
Chief Nwodo further reminded Prof Abdullahi that at the twilight of his life, he should espouse salutary views that should bind and heal the wounds of the country so that he will leave behind a better and united Nigeria.
The President General, however, called on the Federal Government to call NEF to order and make them rescind their inflammatory statement to avoid the possible mayhem and confusion it could cause in the country.
