A coalition of Northern groups, including the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, on Tuesday, gave all Igbos resident in the 19 states of the North a three-month ultimatum to quit or be forced out after the expiration of the October 1, 2017 deadline.
“We are also telling our brothers (northerners) out there in the South-East to get prepared to come back home,” the National President, AYCF, Yerima Shettima, said at a press conference in Kaduna.
The ultimatum followed a successful sit-at-home order enforced by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra on May 30, 2017 which the five South-East states complied with. The ultimatum was handed down at a well attended press conference held at the Arewa House, Kaduna, on Tuesday.The National President of the Northern Emancipation Network, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who read the text of the press conference, noted that the Igbo had become a threat to national unity. Suleiman warned that the failure of the Igbo to heed the relocation order, the group would mobilise the people of region against them (Igbo).
Reacting to the development, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-political body of the Igbo, demanded ‘urgent action’ from the country’s security agencies.Ohanaeze also urged the Igbo in the North to be ‘vigilant’ while going about their activities.