The Northern Governors’ Forum at the weekend met with key leaders of coalition of Arewa groups that issued eviction notice to Igbos.
The coalition had asked Igbos to vacate the nineteen States of Northern Nigeria before October 1, 2017.
Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, led the talks on behalf of his colleagues.
The coalition was represented by its leaders including their spokesman, Abdulazeez Suleman who read the eviction notice in June, tagged ‘the Kaduna declaration’.
Others were Balarabe Rufai, Yerima Shettima, Ashir Sherrif and Aminu Adam.
Shettima said the dialogue option was chosen because a “political problem often requires a political solution”.
“It is only a fool that doesn’t change his mind to review decisions and strategies. There is never a limit to who should be engaged in dialogue no matter what the situation is.
“After all, even armed conflicts of deaths and destructions often end through dialogue with persons who took up arms against a State.
“Some people may think the withdrawal of eviction ultimatum by the coalition wouldn’t mean so much but to us as leaders and from our experiences, it is always dangerous to underestimate the capacity of any group of youths especially when youths come together and seem determined.
“There are millions of other youths that might have been following and supportive of the activities of the coalition of Arewa groups and as we know, issues relating to ethnicity and religion mostly get out of control.
“The youths held prior meeting with His Eminence, the Sultan in previous time. Yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) We had a very fruitful discussion and I believe in the coming days, there will something positive from them.
“In our dialogue they explained their position and I also explained the position of the Governors and why we differed. They demonstrated patriotism and commitment to the unity of Nigeria and progress of the country” Shettima said.
Abdulazeez Suleiman, spokesman of the coalition, said the meeting with the Northern Governors was a sign of respect for their leaders.
“We have listened to Governor Kashim Shettima. This is the first time we are meeting any leader in Government and doing it before the media.
“It is a major development and we are going to make some consultation with other representatives of different groups in the north after which we will make our resolution known by addressing the media”.
