Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Services, SSS, also known as DSS, on Sunday, June 18, 2017 warned Arewa Youth groups and Niger Delta militants over their recent quit notice to Igbos and Northerners respectively, vowing to crack down mercilessly to all hate mongers.
The DSS in an e-mailed statement to The Trent, signed by Tony Opuiyo stressed that every Nigerian has the right to live any part of Nigeria and frowned at any attempt to disunite the country. It also dismissed the reported killing of Igbos fleeing the North as a result of the Arewa Youths’ quit notice.
“The Department of State Services (DSS) has watched with keen interest the disturbing trend desperate and mischievous elements have tended to steer the ship of our nationhood to calamity and irretrievable destruction,” the statement reads.
“Only recently, the Arewa Youths in a press statement called for the relocation of the Igbos from the North.
“Unfortunately, this development has been followed by a release from an unknown source styled Niger Delta Watchdogs, threatening all Northerners to quit Niger Delta region.
“Meanwhile, another group went to the extent of harvesting from the internet, a horrific accident scene, for the purpose of making it look like a site of massacre of Igbo ethnic group by Northern youths.
“However, the Service has been able to establish that the purported murder scene being depicted as a field of massacre was a high casualty accident scene which occurred along Owo-Akure road, Ondo State, on 3rd March, 2016.
“Those involved in these misleading and despicable acts have since been warned to desist from anything capable of causing disaffection and stoking nationwide tensions.
“Consequently, the Service, in line with its statutory mandate of ensuring the internal security of the Country, wishes to inform the public that it will stop at nothing to deploy all resources at its disposal to identify and deal with all those culpable, as well as maintain peace and order in every length and breadth of the Nation.
“To this effect, it warns, in very clear terms, all those who are charting the course of disunity among Nigerians to desist from their divisive actions. The Service is also not oblivious of the efforts of some miscreants to ignite fear and cause ethnic tensions across the country. It strongly condemns in its entirety the call for relocation of anyone to places against their wishes. Such relocation order is not only illegal, but it is strongly viewed to be against the spirit of our Constitution which allows for freedoms of movement and association among others.
“The DSS, therefore, frowns at the tendency some ethnic chauvinists easily and cheaply resort to hate speeches, misinformation and total manipulation of information especially on the social media simply to fan the embers of discord and subvert the efforts of government in implementing its policies for the good of everyone.
“Well-meaning and law abiding citizens and residents are enjoined to disregard persuasions by these tribal jingoists to make our beloved country a theatre of the absurd and bloodletting. It is time for us, Nigerians, to show our humanness and patriotism which have been our defining strength as one united indivisible nation.
“The Service has already commenced a detailed investigation to get the perpetrators of these hate campaigns as well as their sponsors. At the appropriate time all those involved in these condemnable acts will be unmasked and decisively dealt with in line with the laws of the land.
“The Service wants to reassure the entire populace that it will not leave any stone unturned to ensure that those who are bent on causing a breakdown of law and order are not spared.
“Meanwhile, anyone with useful information is also encouraged to volunteer same to the Service or the nearest security agency/formation for prompt action.”
Leave The North By October 1 – Arewa Groups Warn Igbos
A coalition of prominent groups in Northern Nigeria on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 issued an ultimatum to Igbos living in the north to return home by October 1, 2017 or else they will face a situation similar to the pre-civil war pogroms visited on their kin in the 1960s.
The order was contained in an error-ridden statement, obtained by The Trent, issued after a meeting in Kaduna State. The groups, Arewa Citizens Action for Change, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Arewa Youth Development Foundation, Arewa Students Forum, and the Northern Emancipation Network, asked the Igbo residing in the region to “start making plans to leave.”
The chilling statement condemned the renewed call for the independent republic of Biafra and also expressed disdain for the Igbos and their culture saying that “the Igbo people of the South-East, not repentant of the carnage it wrought on the nation in 1966, is today boldly reliving those sinister intentions connoted by the Biafran agitation that led to the very first bloody insurrection in Nigeria’s history”.
In 1966, the Igbos were the victims of the largest genocide in Nigeria’s history with over 100,000 of them killed in Northern Nigeria by northern mobs. This pogrom led to the declaration of the Republic of Biafra which led to the Nigerian civil war in which over 3 million Igbos died.
The northern groups’ threat to Igbos is now widely referred to as the Kaduna Declaration and has been widely condemned by public officials and political groups. However, it has also received wide support from northern elements like Professor Abdullahi.
