By Emma Amaize, Egufe Yafugborhi, Monsuru Olowoopejo & Dennis Agbo

WARRI — Former national chairman, Traditional Rulers of Oil Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, His Majesty, Charles Ayemi-Botu, and ex-Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, weekend, raised the alarm that if the threats by the northern youths on Igbo to quit the north are pushed too far, the Rwanda experience will be a child’s play.

This came as elder statesman and former Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to introduce a 10-year development plan for the country, to quell agitations.

HRH Charles Ayemi-botu,

This is even as  Director-General, Voice of Nigeria, VON, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said  the non-arrest of Arewa youths threatening Igbo residents in northern Nigeria was strategic, to avoid making them  as popular  as Nnamdi through his long incarceration.

Both South-South leaders from the Ijaw ethnic nationality spoke in Warri, Delta State, when they separately played host to a delegation of the United States Consulate, led by Paul Hines, Political and Economic Adviser to the Consul General, who visited them to find out how Niger Delta communities were fairing under the leadership of Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

Recall that in just 100 days in 1994, some 800,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda by ethnic Hutu extremists. They were targeting members of the minority Tutsi community, as well as their political opponents, irrespective of their ethnic origin.

Ayemi-Botu, aka Lion of the Niger, and paramount ruler of Siembiri Kingdom, Delta State, who faulted Osinbajo’s stand on the indissolubility of Nigeria, said: “Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, harped on the indivisibility of Nigeria and the illegality of any opinion opposed to that based on the constitution. Without fear or favour, the Acting President goofed in that thinking. The constitution is dynamic and amenable to change. Buhari came to power promising change, and change we want.

“The 1914 – 2014 treaty of amalgamation of Nigeria by Lord Lugard is gone and expired. Added to the force of the 2014 confab and the glaring inequality among groups where Niger Delta, the goose that  lays the golden egg, is perpetual second- class citizens, the indivisibility of Nigeria has become too shaky to tarry.

“Under the circumstance, the peaceful way to go is restructuring and the best tool to achieve that is referendum. That is why we call on the US and the developed West to prevail on Federal Government to allow referendum for people to fairly determine where they want to be.

“Individuals, groups and zones can raise sentiments, but oil, particularly the vast reserves in my Niger Delta, the economic live wire the entire nation survives on is the only unifying factor for sustained unified Nigeria. But for oil which makes up 98 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, Nigeria would not have been.”

Rwanda tragedy’ll be child’s play, if…

On his part, Bozimo told the US delegation: “The similarity with the experience of 1966/67 is too close. How do you differentiate between Igbo and South-South people?  We are worried because if these threats are pushed too far, Rwanda will be a child’s play.”

He asserted that the Niger Delta people were also worried by the slow response of the Federal Government to the long envisaged dialogue with PANDEF.

He said: “We appeal to the US to tell the Nigerian President that their pace is slow. Ogoni clean-up has been slow, the maritime varsity is slow. Something has to be done. It is a major challenge to the region.”

Hines, who was accompanied by Maria Davydenko, Political Officer to the US Consulate, said at the end of both visits: “Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, is trying to see what he can do and we (US) want to check on key stakeholders to know how communities are faring under the circumstance.”

 Buhari  needs to introduce 10-year devt plan —Okunnu

Okunnu, who expressed dissatisfaction over the quit notice to Ndigbo said the plan helped the Yakubu Gowon administration to quell agitations and led to completion of key projects for each region in the country.

The ex-Federal Commissioner lamented that every region in the country believed it had received less than its contribution to development of Nigeria, saying, every part of the country is undeveloped.

He said the South-East and every other region claiming neglect should understand that every part of the country believes it has been marginalized.

On the solution, Okunnu said: “We all must sit and map out an economic development plan for the country. It could be a 10-year development plan. That is what I expect the executive  to  do. Previous governments including Tafawa Balewa and Gowon administrations did it and it worked.

“The Federal Government should embark on a 10-year development plan. With that, I believe none of the regions will claim marginalization.”

Gbajabiamila preaches peace

Meanwhile, Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, has urged IPOB, Arewa youths and others to dump their plans and embrace peace in the country.

They spoke after joining hundreds of Muslims, who gathered at Lagos Central Mosque, Idumota, yesterday, to observe their Eid-el-fitri prayer in the state.

Gbajabiamila added that division will not help Nigeria but  rather; embracing peace and unity will assist the country to attain greater height.

Non-arrest of Arewa youths strategic

—VON D-G 

THE VON Director General, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said the  arrest of Yerima Shetimma and his cohorts would make them celebrities which may spur another round of agitation in the country.

Okechukwu spoke against the background of Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s frown on the complexity of the security apparatus to the danger posed by the Arewa youths’ hate speech against Ndigbo.

Okechukwu in a statement in Enugu, yesterday, disagreed with the position of Ohanaeze Ndigbo that the security agencies were playing double standard by not making arrests over the quit notice on Ndigbo residing in northern Nigeria.

Okechukwu said it was the long detention of the leader of IPOB, Nnamadi Kanu,  that brought about his recent fame and rejected any other arrest that could make the inconsequential Arewa youths famous.

“Strategic in the sense that more than any other factor was the arrest and long detention of harmless, but as well provocative Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB which led to this sordid scenario.

“Detention made Kanu with no fixed address became an instant celebrity. Had Kanu not been arrested his agitation could have fizzled out unnoticed.

“I didn’t consult the Inspector General of the Police or any security officer for that matter, but common sense. The security chiefs might have reasoned that it is better to allow the storm to boil over, instead of creating another celebrity. As time is the healer of all wounds.”