THE Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, yesterday, ordered Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and state Commissioners of Police in the North to arrest and bring to book, those behind Tuesday’s three-month eviction notice to Igbo in the northern part of the country.
He also charged various State Police Commands to begin a manhunt for those beating the drums of war across the country, saying: “Anybody, individual or group that attempts to prevent any Nigerian from carrying out his daily activities, the constitution vests in us the responsibilities to ensure that those guys are stopped by all means.” Idris spoke at Force Headquarters, during a meeting with 36 state Police commissioners and officers above the rank of commissioners. The IGP’s order came as more reactions trailed the eviction notice with the House of Representatives asking the security agencies to be combat ready and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, saying the threat was free speech taken too far. The Kogi and Niger state governments condemned the threat and assured the Igbo that they were welcome in both states. A host of groups, including the Eastern Consultative Assembly, ECA; Ijaw Youths, Niger Delta and Middle Belt groups pooh-poohed the Igbo eviction notice, which they dismissed as childish, thoughtless and invitation to anarchy.
However, the coalition of Arewa youth groups that issued the threat, insisted, yesterday, that they would not be in the same country with the Igbo just as Second Republic Politician and lawyer, Chief Guy Ikokwu, asked the 17 southern governors to meet urgently and take a position on the various challenges plaguing the country. The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, also condemned the threat. The commission, in a statement by its Principal Public Affairs Officer, Mr. Mebrim Uchechukwu, described the quit notice as a “serious affront on human rights.” Meanwhile, the South-East Governors and Senate Caucus have urged the Igbo to ignore the quit notice and remain wherever they are.
“It is a constitutional right and I believe it is illegal and I think as CPs, AIGs of commands we have responsibility to ensure that these groups do not prevent other Nigerians from exercising their individual rights. “I think it is very important and I want to use this opportunity to call all of you to prevent some of these groups that obviously are acting outside the constitution of the law of this country…we are not going to allow some of these groups to carry out these threats. These are the issues that we are here to discuss. “I want all of us to be at alert, to note that anybody, individual or any group that attempts to prevent any Nigerian from carrying out his daily activities, we have responsibilities to ensure that those guys are stopped by all means.” No arrest yet, we will handle them the way we handled IPOB Regarding the number of persons arrested so far, following the directive by Kaduna State government to that effect, the IGP said no arrest has been made. He vowed that the police would tackle the threat of the Arewa youths through adoption of similar measures they used in handling the agitation of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign People of Biafra, MASSOB and the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB. His words: “On the issue of the threat, of course you see the procedure that we adopted in dealing with the problem when this IPOB thing came up, last month. We are adopting the same procedure. “We are just trying to ensure that no individual causes confusion in this country because making some of these threats constitute subversive activities against the security of the state and we cannot allow that to happen. “Obviously, we are going to conduct investigation into it but you observe that one state government has issued a directive to the security agencies. Of course, you are aware that some of the security agencies in the state include our commissioners of police because they are members of the state security council from their various individual states.
“That is why I am issuing that order to all of them, [ads-post] as CPs. They are to ensure that the directive issued by the Kaduna State governor is carried out as far as there is an impediment to the law of this country. You must be combat ready, Reps tell security agencies Responding to the threat, members of the House of Representatives have asked the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to be on the alert to forestall the breakdown of law and order in the country. The members, in a plenary, condemned in strong terms the stand of the Arewa youth and IPOB on Biafra and stressed the need for urgent intervention of the Federal Government to avert national crisis. This was sequel to the adoption of the motion of urgent public importance moved by Rep Emma Oghene Egoh (PDP-Lagos), who stressed the need for Federal Government’s intervention to avert a looming disaster and the destruction of lives and property. As part of MASSOB/IPOB’s campaign for the actualisation of Biafran Republic, it ordered Igbo people to ‘’sit-at-home’’ on May 30, 2017 to mark 50 years of the declaration of the republic and in honour of those who died during the civil war. The order was obeyed leading to a shut down of the South-East and some cities in the South-South. Egoh said: ‘’The House is further concerned that this motion is not interested in the merit or demerit of Biafra, nor is it interested in apportioning blame on those who made the two unpatriotic calls. “Rather its only concern is for the nation’s leaders to immediately intervene to stop these agitations from resulting in violence that may consume the entire nation and for the National Assembly and the Presidency to wade into the issue by dialogue with the protagonist of ‘come and leave our land’ and ‘return home immediately’ groups to avoid damage to our collective nationhood.” To this end, the House urged both parties to rescind their decisions, just as the lawmakers called on Federal Government to urgently wade into the crisis on time in order to avoid loss of lives and properties that the actualisation of the parties’ threat may cause. Ignore quit notice, South East Senate Caucus, Govs Meanwhile, the South East governors and Senate Caucus, yesterday, asked all Igbo residing in the North to ignore the ultimatum given by some Arewa youth groups.
“The lives and property of law-abiding citizens of Igbo extraction are as precious as the lives and property of all Nigerians irrespective of the region of their abode within this republic. These must be guaranteed and defended against all forms of threats, both domestic and external, by the security forces/agencies of the federal republic of Nigeria. We the governors of the south east are collaborating effectively with the security agencies to ensure that no harm of any destruction is visited upon any law-abiding Nigerian citizen resident in the South East of Nigeria, including those from the North of Nigeria”
Source vanguard.
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| David Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Willie Obiano, Rochas Okorocha and Ifeanyi Ugwanyi |
He also charged various State Police Commands to begin a manhunt for those beating the drums of war across the country, saying: “Anybody, individual or group that attempts to prevent any Nigerian from carrying out his daily activities, the constitution vests in us the responsibilities to ensure that those guys are stopped by all means.” Idris spoke at Force Headquarters, during a meeting with 36 state Police commissioners and officers above the rank of commissioners. The IGP’s order came as more reactions trailed the eviction notice with the House of Representatives asking the security agencies to be combat ready and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, saying the threat was free speech taken too far. The Kogi and Niger state governments condemned the threat and assured the Igbo that they were welcome in both states. A host of groups, including the Eastern Consultative Assembly, ECA; Ijaw Youths, Niger Delta and Middle Belt groups pooh-poohed the Igbo eviction notice, which they dismissed as childish, thoughtless and invitation to anarchy.
However, the coalition of Arewa youth groups that issued the threat, insisted, yesterday, that they would not be in the same country with the Igbo just as Second Republic Politician and lawyer, Chief Guy Ikokwu, asked the 17 southern governors to meet urgently and take a position on the various challenges plaguing the country. The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, also condemned the threat. The commission, in a statement by its Principal Public Affairs Officer, Mr. Mebrim Uchechukwu, described the quit notice as a “serious affront on human rights.” Meanwhile, the South-East Governors and Senate Caucus have urged the Igbo to ignore the quit notice and remain wherever they are.
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| IGP Idris K. Ibrahim |
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“That is why I am issuing that order to all of them, [ads-post] as CPs. They are to ensure that the directive issued by the Kaduna State governor is carried out as far as there is an impediment to the law of this country. You must be combat ready, Reps tell security agencies Responding to the threat, members of the House of Representatives have asked the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to be on the alert to forestall the breakdown of law and order in the country. The members, in a plenary, condemned in strong terms the stand of the Arewa youth and IPOB on Biafra and stressed the need for urgent intervention of the Federal Government to avert national crisis. This was sequel to the adoption of the motion of urgent public importance moved by Rep Emma Oghene Egoh (PDP-Lagos), who stressed the need for Federal Government’s intervention to avert a looming disaster and the destruction of lives and property. As part of MASSOB/IPOB’s campaign for the actualisation of Biafran Republic, it ordered Igbo people to ‘’sit-at-home’’ on May 30, 2017 to mark 50 years of the declaration of the republic and in honour of those who died during the civil war. The order was obeyed leading to a shut down of the South-East and some cities in the South-South. Egoh said: ‘’The House is further concerned that this motion is not interested in the merit or demerit of Biafra, nor is it interested in apportioning blame on those who made the two unpatriotic calls. “Rather its only concern is for the nation’s leaders to immediately intervene to stop these agitations from resulting in violence that may consume the entire nation and for the National Assembly and the Presidency to wade into the issue by dialogue with the protagonist of ‘come and leave our land’ and ‘return home immediately’ groups to avoid damage to our collective nationhood.” To this end, the House urged both parties to rescind their decisions, just as the lawmakers called on Federal Government to urgently wade into the crisis on time in order to avoid loss of lives and properties that the actualisation of the parties’ threat may cause. Ignore quit notice, South East Senate Caucus, Govs Meanwhile, the South East governors and Senate Caucus, yesterday, asked all Igbo residing in the North to ignore the ultimatum given by some Arewa youth groups.
“The lives and property of law-abiding citizens of Igbo extraction are as precious as the lives and property of all Nigerians irrespective of the region of their abode within this republic. These must be guaranteed and defended against all forms of threats, both domestic and external, by the security forces/agencies of the federal republic of Nigeria. We the governors of the south east are collaborating effectively with the security agencies to ensure that no harm of any destruction is visited upon any law-abiding Nigerian citizen resident in the South East of Nigeria, including those from the North of Nigeria”
Source vanguard.
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