The Northern Elders Forum and the Northern Elders Council have disagreed on the call by the coalition of northern youths to the acting President to organise a “referendum that will ease out the Igbo out of the country, saying that the only way for break up is through war”
The Chairman of the NEC, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, said the referendum would be unconstitutional.
He added that “any secession could only be actualised by war.”
But the Secretary of the NEF, Prof Ango Abdullahi, believed that the northern youths had made a workable recommendation since both warring parties had not shifted their grounds.
Yakasai stated, “You know that in the Nigerian constitution, there is no place where there is a national referendum for secession. If they (the youths) don’t know what they are doing, you should know what you are doing.
“Only the Independent National Electoral Commission can organise a referendum. That is all. Nobody has the power to organise a referendum. The acting President has no power to organise a national referendum. We are governed by our constitution.
“The only way for any group to secede is through war. There is no provision for any part to secede legally.”
Abbdullahi, on the other hand, said, “The fact that there has been a contact with the elders by the acting President has not yet brought out any resolution to the position taken by both sides.
“So, it looks like there is still a lot more work to do. I believe that what the youths have done is to raise a suggestion. They are emphasing that whatever happens in Nigeria should happen peacefully, and this includes the possibility of separation.
“So, I do not know what the worry is all about. What the boys are doing is to more or less make a suggestion.”
