The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, has cautioned the Leader of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, against making inflammatory statements.
Reacting through Emeka Attamah, his Media Adviser, Nwodo stated that the statement credited to Abdulahi in which he claimed that the Igbo were responsible for the violence against the north, was a dangerous gaffe by a man who by learning, experience and exposure should know better.
Nwodo said the unprovoked outburst by Abdullahi was capable of setting the country on fire.
The President General 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.
He challenged 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.
Nwodo reminded 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.
He 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 hold Nigeria together.
The President General 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 and unsubstantiated claims capable of igniting fire and breakdown of law and order.
The President General 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.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has also condemned Abdullahi’s submission.
A statement signed by its Director of Media/Publicity, Emma Powerful, urged the north to face its ordeal and leave the Igbo alone.
