Igbo Quit Notice: Arewa/Igbo Joint Panel Fails To Call Off Quit Notice

 A statement by the committee yesterday said there was a need for more time to enable it do a thorough job.

Biafran demonstrators

The peace meeting between the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) and Igbo leaders in the North, to find solutions to the quit notice issued to the Igbo in the North, appears to have ended in a stalemate.

The 10-man committee appears to have more responsibilities than envisaged, as it has extended its sitting by another 10 days, and sources saying there is more than meets the eye with the committee’s inability to call off the quit notice yesterday.

A source said: “We sat more than thrice and we realized there are more issues on ground that should be extensively deliberated if we really want to find a lasting solution that will settle the dust.”

After a crucial peace-parley of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) and Igbo leaders in the North last week, a 10-man committee was raised to find better ways of resolving the contentious issue.

However, after three days of brainstorming, the committee adjourned sitting to the next 10 days to make way for wider consultations.

A statement by the committee yesterday said there was a need for more time to enable it do a thorough job.

The statement, signed by Chief Chi Nwogu (Igbo leader), Alhaji Dauda S. Shamakiri (CNG), and Comrade Isa Tijani (convener of the peace parley), reads: “Reference to the August 4 peace meeting, which led to the formation of a 10-man committee to find a solution to the quit notice issued. The committee sat and deliberated extensively, and agreed that there is need for further consultations from both sides.

“Accordingly, the meeting adjourned to reconvene in the next 10 days, where a final resolution on issues will be achieved.”

Meanwhile, CNG, in a statement issued after its town hall meeting in Kano, accused leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, of sowing the seed of discord in the corporate existence of Nigeria as a country.

According to the statement, “his (Nnamdi Kanu) recent action of forcefully grounding movement of people including those from other regions by shutting down most South-East cities notwithstanding the mild and ineffective condemnation by some Igbo political, cultural and religious leaders has foreclosed the avenues for an expected early peaceful resolution.

“It is further justification of our concern expressed in the Kaduna Declaration and subsequent correspondences with the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the International Community.

“These renewed threats contained in Kanu’s unwarranted utterances and actions compel us to push further for definite national and international action that would decide the Biafran matter to conclusion once and for all.

“In our usual truly patriotic aim to forestall the drift toward anarchy in Nigeria, and also to alert the international community as to where responsibility would ultimately lie if such momentous events ever came to pass, we have followed up our earlier effort by another round of initiatives of extending similar communications to relevant authorities.”

They added that, “accordingly, we have met with many leaders and groups with positive developments while our doors remain open for discussions with more groups, leaders and agencies genuinely interested in addressing the separatist issues with a view to finally achieving a peaceful and stable Nigeria.”