Anti-Igbo threat: Police must  arrest Arewa youth leaders, Institute insists

Adelani Adepegba, Abuja 

THE Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, a parastatal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has called on the police to ensure the arrest of northern youth leaders for their threat against the Igbo.

The agency insisted that the police must be proactive in tracking down and bringing to book all perpetrators of incendiary statements in accordance with the provision of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

The IPCR Director-General, Prof. Oshita Oshita, who addressed a press conference on Friday in Abuja warned that no part of the country must threaten its corporate existence as done by the northern youth groups. 

“While noting the reactions of the police and other security agencies thus far, IPCR would like to urge them to be more proactive in tracking and bringing to book all perpetrators of incendiary statements in accordance with the provision of the laws of the federal republic of Nigeria,” he said. 

Oshita noted that such unguarded statements were capable of disrupting the efforts of the Federal Government towards inclusive diversity management and national cohesion. 

He said, “The inciting statement credited to a purported coalition of Arewa Youth Groups threatening people of Igbo ethnicity to vacate the northern part of Nigeria by October 1, 2017 is saddening, coming at a time when Nigeria requires the positive energies of every citizen to strengthen the resilience of our communities to withstand the harsh socio-economic conditions confronting the citizenry.”