The Coalition of Northern Groups said the way Igbo Elders’ Consultative Forum and other groups clamouring for a president from the South-East extraction is wrong.
The organisation also said that the Igbo elders’ recent warning is a threat to national security.
The CNG condemned the IECF and called to arrest and prosecute its members immediately, saying that they threatened our nation, as well as its institutions and people.
Abdulazeez Suleiman, the Spokesperson of CNG said
Ridwan criticized other Igbo leaders who want to manipulate the national criminal justice system by attempting to push for the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is suspected in corruption. Ridwan also criticized their demand for the next Nigerian president to be from an Igboland.
The President’s tenure has seen intense political posturing and changes
Even though there has been demand for an Igbo president in Nigeria, the clamour has strengthened 18 months before the general elections. Ohanaeze Ndigbo is a socio-cultural organization whose goal is to attain an Igbo president in 2023 – and they are one of the major forces behind this desire.
The CNG see the continuation of attacks on government agents and public symbols in the south-east as an indication that there’s a deep distrust for Igbo people.
Suleiman said, “The Coalition of Northern Groups has taken stock of events in Nigeria, particularly in the past few months when our democracy, political unity and national security have come under serious scrutiny, noting especially, the unrelenting violent disturbances created around certain interests of the Igbo people.
“This is confirmed by the utterances and actions of such Igbo leaders as the former Governor of Anambra State and Chairman of the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, when he threatened the continued existence of Nigeria during a condolence visit paid to him by Igbo leaders of thought and traditional rulers on April 5, 2022.
“Similarly, groups of Igbo leaders and elders have engaged in desperate covert and overt efforts to secure the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the IPOB terror group standing trial for crimes against the state.
“As if these were not enough, same group of Igbo elders again recklessly issued a national security threat on May 4, 2022, that any attempt to elude the zone of the presidency in 2023 may rupture the existence of Nigeria as a corporate entity as well as aggravate crisis, conflicts, separatist demands and others.
“The CNG observes that the perpetrators of this senseless violence are relentlessly pursuing the agenda of destruction and collective mayhem, fervently hoping it will engulf the entire country and bring about another civil war and mass killings.
“This has deepened the fears that the Igbo cannot and should never be trusted with presidential power and rendered their renewed desperation for the Igbo presidency suspect.
“The foregoing observations have made it impossible for us to remain indifferent or silent in the face of such extreme provocations and insistent drive towards civil strife.
Suleiman, however, maintained that the CNG would remain committed to the search for a Nigerian leader with the capacity, competence and credibility to be trusted and accepted by all Nigerians.
“The CNG also recommits to the pursuit of a legal framework for the conduct and implementation of a general referendum to determine the status of the South-East or any enclave that wishes for self-determination from Nigeria,” he added
