A former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday, reassured Nigerians, especially Southerners living in the 19 Northern states that there was no cause for alarm over the October 1st quit notice issued to the Igbo by a Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG, saying efforts are being put in place to quash the notice.
Dr. Kalu, who gave the assurance at an elaborate meeting with some members of the Coalition of Northern Groups, in Abuja said, he had a very fruitful discussion with the leadership of the northern groups in order to review their position.
The leaders of the coalition who attended the meeting included the chairman, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shetima, Abdulazeez Sulieman, Aminu Adamu and Balarabe Rufai, who were representatives of other northern groups.
This came as the leader of Biafra Nation Guard, BGN, Mr. Innocent Orji, who has been in prison custody since 2009 over an alleged role in the kidnap and killing of two Chinese working for Innoson Group of Companies, Nnewi, was yesterday released from Onitsha Prisons with sixteen other members of his group.
According to Kalu, “The discussion was very fruitful. You know the diversity of this country is the strength of the country. The demography of this country is very essential to what we are doing. People who think that any part of the country has nothing to contribute for its development are making a mistake.
“Agriculture remains very crucial if this country wants to be serious. Agriculture can make more money for this country than anything on earth. And next to agriculture would be tourism.
“Nigeria is a very big country. We transverse between Sahara desert and Atlantic ocean. This is the only country that can proudly boast of having the two. Some people are asking God to give them one of the two. But we have the two, we have the Sahara desert and we have the Atlantic Ocean.
“So, I want to thank Yerima Shettima for agreeing to come out openly for this meeting. We have been talking for a very long time. Every day, I call him and we discuss this issue. And we are getting to a common ground. Arewa youths are making a serious consultation.
“When they say the Igbo, they talk about people in the north who are not northerners. You don’t know who is Igbo, Urhobo or who is from Bayelsa state. All of them are Igbo as far as I am concerned. So, I want to assure the Southerners who are living in the northern part of Nigeria that we will continue to put our efforts, nothing will happen to them. We are going to move forward.”
The chairman of Slot Group, while noting that the country is at a difficult situation, however, pleaded that this is the time all Nigerians should come together and make frantic effort s to salvage the country.
