Elder statesmen of the North have denied speculations that the region is
planning to break away from Nigeria in the aftermath of the 2015 general elections.
They spoke separately to Nigerian Pilot Sunday in Kaduna, at the weekend,
in reaction to admonition by the former Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices
and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, to the
North not to mull over breaking away from Nigeria.
Justice Akanbi had at the 56th Anniversary lecture he delivered on
the attainment of self-governance of Northern Nigeria, organised by the Arewa
Consultative Forum, ACF, admonished the North not to contemplate breaking
away from the country, rather it should ensure that it is not left behind in the
scheme of things in the country. In a separate interview reacting to the
admonishment by Akanbi, Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Ibrahim
Coomassie, and the Chairman of the Northern Elders Council, NEC, Tanko
Yakasai, said that they were not aware of any move by the North to break away
from the country.
“There was no time the North or any part of it contemplated breaking away
from the country,” Yakasai, Commassie and Alhaji Ango Abdullahi stated.
In his words, Coomassie said, “Nobody is contemplating breaking away. We will
remain here. If they want to break away let them go and break away. That is our stand here at the Arewa Consultative Forum,ACF. “So northern Nigeria has never
thought of breaking away at all. The North cannot afford to break away from
Nigeria. Northern Nigeria is Nigeria. We accommodated everybody in the North so
why would we break away? “People should be allowed to vote for people they want. There should be credible and transparent elections so that if people vote they will know that their votes count. “And at the end of the day the correct
result and winner should be announced. That is democracy and that is what we
want. “For six years our people have been killed, property destroyed, our children
killed, and some have been kidnapped. But nobody has stopped this. And it is the
responsibility of this government to do it and he has not done it. “Don’t forget in 1998, we decided that power should shift to the South and after
eight years it should come back to the North. “Though it came but somebody sick
was picked and he died after two years. This man completed his tenure, went
on to seek another second tenure, and is about completing it. That is the situation.
Nobody is asking that the North should break away,” Coomassie said.
Yakasai on his part said, “How can the North break away? Why? How can he
talk about that when there is nothing like that happening in the country?
“The North is not contemplating anything. How can the North break
away from the country? If you say let the country not breakup that I can
understand. But North should break away to where? It does not make any sense.
“Then he was not speaking from the reality on ground. I don’t think there
is any contemplation on the part of the North to break up from Nigeria. That
is my opinion. “I am not aware of any moves of any
part of the North to break away from Nigeria. I can’t see signs. The people
of Nigeria are complementary to one another. Everybody will be worse off
if the country is broken into pieces,” he said.
When asked if it could be that the admonition was informed by the
clamour for power to return to the North, Coomassie replied, “I’m not
aware of that.”
Meanwhile, Chairman, Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Prof. Ango Abdullahi said the North has been blackmailed and intimidated. “ The North would have gone
far ahead of every other part of the country if the regional system of
government was still in place in the country. “The North should have been somewhere very far ahead of every part of the country based on the quality of leadership that we have. “ It is time, we talk to ourselves and get back to where they were,” Prof.Abdullahi said.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
