Some northerners have expressed support for the ongoing military operation in the south-east. But they cautioned against reprisal attacks on Igbo living in their region.

At a press conference in Kano yesterday where they reacted to the clash between soldiers and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the northerners under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), vowed to resist any attempt by the agitators to undermine the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

“The agitations and disturbances that have been ongoing since the coming to power of the Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo in 2015 are aimed at rendering the country practically ungovernable, and ushering in anarchy and instability, thereby occasioning a change of government by whatever means and tactics,” CNG said.

The group said it would take the matter to the international community, including African Union, ECOWAS, United Nations Security Council and the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Urging their people to be calm, the spokesman of CNG, Abdulaziz Suleiman, said: “As a cultured people with a long history of tolerance and respect for constituted authority, we call on northerners to resist the temptation of carrying out reprisal attack and playing to the gallery.

“Northerners, in line with their disciplined nature must refuse at this point to be dragged into taking the law into their hands through unnecessary and unproductive confrontations with members of any sectional, ethnic or religious group.”

Suleiman said his kinsmen must remain peacefully focused, mutually respectful, trusting and tolerant “as we repose confidence in the ability and willingness of the Nigerian security agencies to handle the situation as well as protect the lives and property of every Nigerian anywhere. “

The group said it once cautioned that the agitators for separation and the cry for Biafra would become louder and the agitators would become emboldened to act in more radical and violent manner, thereby sparking retaliation in the north with subsequent attacks to be perpetrated against northerners in the south-east.

Recalling efforts of the coalition at returning the country to democracy, the CNG doubted if the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, is a Nigerian. “He is a half Nigerian or perhaps not even a Nigerian, who only came to destabilise our hard earned democracy. We refuse to be toyed with.”

The spokesperson said: “We are optimistic that the Nigerian state is doing its best to tackle the situation. They are really doing the needful. So also the government of Abia State is doing its best along that line, so we are hopeful that the situation will be dealt with in the interest of the country as a whole.”

•Excerpted from a report by The Guardian.

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