Boko Haram’s 3-Day Ultimatum: It’s A Joke, Igbo Leaders

Southerners resident in the north have described the Boko Haram three-day ultimatum ordering them to vacate the area as a calculated attempt by the northern hegemony to instigate a full-blown war in Nigeria.

The dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram agitating for the Islamisation in the north gave a three-day ultimatum to all southerners resident in the north to vacate the territory within 72 hours or face unrestricted attack.

Speaking on behalf of Yoruba residents on the north, Prince Ajayi Memayetan, a community leader resident in Kano, described the Boko Haram ultimatum as a huge joke and a slap on the President Goodluck Jonathan government.

“I want to believe they (Boko Haram) are joking because I don’t know how possible a group like that should make such statement in a country where law and order are still in place.

“The truth is that Jonathan’s government is compounding issues, by removing fuel subsidy at this critical time instead of tackling mounting security problems headlong,” Ajayi said.

He urged the Federal Government to make sure that, “this threat by the terrorist group does not happen. If it does, that means we shall be witnessing a very horrible socio-political cum religious crises in this country.”

Memayetan added: “Remember Muhammadu Buhari after the Supreme Court judgement on the April 2011 presidential election said there will be chaos and total breakdown of law and order in the country. Maybe, this is the chaos coming.”

Also, reacting to the ultimatum, Chairman of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Kano, Chief Tobias Idika, said, even though Boko Haram’s rhythms were not clear, “it is by implication a subtle move to declare the sovereign state of the north.”

Wondering why an Islamic group should make such a proclamation, Idika declared: “It is clear that a full-blown war has been declared on this nation by the northern oligarchy, using the Boko Haram as a front. It is all the handiwork of northern leaders.”

Idika charged Jonathan to hold northern politicians, traditional rulers and religious leaders responsible if anything happens to the innocent citizens of the country.

“These northern leaders know the Boko Haram boys. They are their foot soldiers and only their leaders can identify them because Boko Haram is working for the interest of the north,” Idika alleged.

While calling for a state of emergency in all the states in the core north, the Ohaneze Ndigbo leader urged southerners resident in the north never to panic because, “if they strike, we shall retaliate. We shall rise up to defend our lives and property, here in the north because this is a Nigerian territory and we are all Nigerians.”

While reiterating that the present scenario is a replay of the circumstances that led to the outbreak war in 1967, Idika noted that the Boko Haram saga is merely a political creation. He wondered why northern politicians are hiding under the garb of religion to spilt the country.

“Jonathan should rise up and defend the citizens of this country in the face of this onslaught against southerners and Christians. Why is the north plotting to spilt the country? By all these happening, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegun-Ojukwu has been indicated.

“The president should act swiftly before things get out of hand because we can no longer tolerate any further killings of our people and bombing of our properties,” Idika declared.

Meanwhile, traders at Ababar Pini Market, Kano this morning in Sabongeri Kano, closed shops and ran helter skelter as protesters took over the market protesting against the removal of fuel subsidy which saw over 100 percent increase in pump price of petrol.

P.M.NEWS reports that hoodlums took advantage of the protest to break into and loot over 15 shops in the market.

As at this morning, a litre of petroleum is sold at N138 at filling stations in Kano while in the black market, a litre sells for N200.

With this situation, P.M.MEWS gathered that the prices of goods at the markets have skyrocketed. Also, transportation fares have increased astronomically,

For instance, commercial motorcyclists now charge minimum of N60 for the shortest distance while a longer trip which formerly attracted N60 now attracts between N120 and N150.

The Boko Haram threat has also attracted reactions in Kaduna.

Igbos resident in Kaduna have vowed to remain in the North and fight back any attempt to disintegrate Nigeria.

Vice Chairman, Igbo Community Welfare Association in Kaduna, Chief Dominic Uzu who disclosed this to P.M.NEWS today said the order is not tenable and should be treated with all seriousness.

Uzu stated: “Boko Haram or whatever name they call themselves cannot continue to create any atmosphere of fear and insecurity and people just watch them as if they are untouchables.”

According to Uzu and other Igbo traders interviewed by our correspondent, the Boko Haram should know that Igbos are Nigerians who have their fundamental right to reside anywhere in Nigeria and do their businesses.

The Igbos interviewed said it is now clear that the Boko Haram sect have other motives than their earlier opposition to western education.

One of the Igbos said, “for the Boko Haram sect to say that southerners should leave the north is an evidence that they are anti-Nigeria and not western education as they claimed.”

He, however, urged the Federal Government not to treat the order with kid gloves.

“We believe that we have a constituted authority which should handle this matter with all the seriousness it deserves before the southerners including the Igbos begin to take the laws into their hands.

According to him, the Boko Haram sect is just a few number of people in the north and their activities in recent past have shown that they are anti-Nigeria. So, the president should order the soldiers and other security agents to ensure there is law and order.

Boko Haram had given Christians and southerners living in northern Nigeria, a three-day ultimatum to leave the area or face the consequences.

A spokesman for the sect, Abul Qada, who spoke to journalists on Sunday night, also stated that soldiers deployed by President Goodluck Jonathan to enforce a state of emergency he declared on Saturday in some parts of four northern states would be targeted.

—Madu Nnmeribeh/Kano & Femi Adi/Kaduna