Shettima Yerima, leader of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, says he is not on the run over the quit notice issued to the Igbo in the north.
Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, the youth leader said he would submit himself if declared wanted, but that for now, no one is looking for him.
Yerima alongside other northern youth leaders had asked the Igbo in the region to leave – a move that attracted widespread condemnation.
Although Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state – where the notice was issued – had ordered the arrest of the youth, the police are yet to implement the order.
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Yerima said he is not above the law and that he is willing to submit himself to the police if asked to.
“I did not go into hiding and will never go into hiding. We need to put the record straight,” he said.
“For now, nobody is looking for me and I am ready to submit myself if I am called. I am not a joker. Nobody is looking for me and I am not hiding anywhere from anybody. I am in my village, I am a Nigerian. If anybody looks for me, I will submit myself. I am not above the law. I am not on the run.
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“Why should I go into hiding? I have a name, I have a face. I am not faceless. I am not hiding anywhere. Why should I hide? Where did I go wrong?”
He said the groups were justified in the quit notice issued to the Igbo and that there was nothing wrong about it.
“Somebody wants to go and I said, ‘go, you’re free to go’. What’s wrong with that?” he asked.
“You cannot be in our country and begin to clamour for another country. Go to your place and declare your own country, not in my zone. It is a simple language. I have not committed any offence.”
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2 comments
Only in Nigeria that people can get away with almost anything they do and say. Why is this guy not still arrested and he is still working about freely? He tried to divide Nigeria through violent. He was trying to start a civil war and he is working about freely. I thought the Acting president and the Governor of Kaduna state told police to arrest such people?
The modern world is developed for people to determine their real position peacefully without being forced to coexist in an unwanted union. The guy deserved not to be arrested because be sympathetically expressed his opinion which may fercilitate the freedom if an only if, their is no string attached. A simple step that will enable the FG to organize a memorandum but their being adamant thereby creating room for violence which may metamorphosize to war. The ignorant cum illittate FG should take the right step now to avert any semblance of war.