The Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG has urged the Northern leaders to allow Igbos to have their Biafra Republic.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees of CNG, Nastura A. Shariff, recently revealed this in a seven pages letter titled: “Alert on the unfolding scenario for destabilization of Nigeria,” and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the Igbos should be granted their wish as soon as possible to avert another civil war and bloodshed in the country.

He added that their letter was written with a deep sense of patriotism and concern for a strong and prosperous northern region in Nigeria.

His words, “Sir,

ALERT ON UNFOLDING SCENARIOS FOR DESTABILIZATION OF NIGERIA:

“We address this letter to you with a deep sense of patriotism and concern for a strong and prosperous northern region in the context of the current Nigerian nation with respect to both historical and current trends and the underlying character of the Igbo people of the South East.”

“We address you, Sir, consciously believing that as a critical stakeholder in the affairs of the northern society, you will accept and treat this as a warning from history which repeats itself, according to Karl Marx, once as a farce and twice as a tragedy.”

1. LESSIONS OF HISTORY

It is instructive to recount that the Igbo have benefited more than any other tribe in terms of economic monopoly and are the most accommodated and tolerated of all the ethnic groups in Nigeria, despite their notoriety for disregard to every rule of decency and etiquette globally.”

“They have persisted in spiteful and vile threats on the whole nation as a catalyst for the kind of violence that the country faced in 1966 following the first-ever military insurrection by their kith.

“Setting the protocol for the unfolding agenda, the 1966 coupists decapitated the Prime Minister and the political leadership of the Northern and Western regions, leaving the zenith of Igbo leadership at the federal level and the Eastern region intact.”

“Since that time, the Igbo have continued to intermittently taunt and rebel against the Nigerian State, demanding to secede and form an independent country called Biafra which was among the key elements that culminated in the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970 that resulted in colossal death and destruction.”

“2. RESURGENCE

Decades after, Nigeria is again witnessing the resurgence of separatist agitations, especially by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its ilk, as strategies employed to achieve the results that the coupists of the First Republic failed to realize.”

“The scene began with the regrouping of the Igbo to launch a brazen, though relatively decent campaign for Biafra under the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).”

“This was eventually hijacked by another rogue group called the IPOB, led by Nnamdi Kanu whose violent campaign went beyond public lectures to the spread of xenophobic, hateful war messages, targeting the Nigerian state and other non-Igbo ethnic groups.”

“Kanu and IPOB’s activities grew exponentially, ranging from ordering people of other regions out of the South East – particularly northerners, to open declaration of amassing of arms to fight Nigeria.”

“As these dangerous contours began to spiral with repeated calls to arms by the IPOB leader, the CNG in 2017, took the bold and necessary step to issue a “quit notice” in the famous Kaduna Declaration and followed up with series of communications to the then acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and all major foreign diplomatic missions represented in Nigeria, in which we drew attention to the emerging trends in the country that were pregnant with complications and unforeseen consequences.”