Indications emerged on Friday that the apex socio-cultural body of the Igbos, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, is to meet Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and leaders of pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, over the ‘quit notice’ issued to the Igbo living in Lagos and other parts of the South-West.The Whistler can report
In what has been described as a ‘genocidal threat’, a post by an X/Twitter user, Lagospedia, on July 27, gave the Igbo residing in Lagos and other parts of the South-West one month to leave the region.
The post also announced that an #IgboMustGo protest is to take place in Lagos from August 20 to August 30.
The post reads: “Lagosians and every South-West stakeholders should prepare for the massive protest of #IgboMustGo on the 20th – 30th of August.
“They have 1 month from now to leave and relocate their business from all South-West states. We urge all Yorubas living in the South-East to return home.”
The post has elicited outrage, with two of the presidential candidates in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, among those who have condemned it.
Although it is not the first time a ‘quit notice’ is being issued to the Igbo in Lagos, checks by THE WHISTLER on Friday revealed that the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is taking the latest threat seriously, especially as it is coming amid the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest taking place in different parts of the country.
There are fears among the Ohanaeze leadership that unsavoury elements may capitalise on the protest to attack the Igbo in Lagos and other parts of the South-West.
A member of the Ime-Obi, the decision making organ of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, told THE WHISTLER on Friday that the pan-Igbo association will send a delegation to meet Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and leaders of the Afenifere, over the matter.
The source, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak concerning the development, said Ohanaeze intends to get the Lagos governor and the Afenifere leaders to commit to guaranteeing the safety of the Igbo in Lagos and the entire South-West.
“We (Ohanaeze Ndigbo) are not taking this threat lightly and as a result, we are going to send a delegation to Lagos to meet the governor. The delegation will also engage the leadership of Afenifere, who we consider as partners.
“Of course we believe that the Lagos Government and Afenifere are not involved in this (quit notice) but we want the governor to guarantee the safety of Igbos in Lagos. We want the Afenifere leaders to likewise advocate for the protection of the Igbo, not only in Lagos but the entire South-West.”
Speaking on the call on Yorubas to leave the South-East, the Ohanaeze chieftain noted that “Yorubas in the South-East know they are safe”.
Efforts to get official comments from the spokesman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, on Friday, were not successful as at the time of filing this report.
However, in a statement released on Thursday night, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, the youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, had warned that any attack on Igbos in Lagos and other parts of the country would be resisted.
National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, in the statement, said the Igbo are not cowards and are ready to fight back.
Nnabuike wondered why the Igbo are being targeted, even when they opted out of the ongoing nationwide protest.
He said, “We want to equivocally declare today that Ndigbo are not cowards; our forefathers were not cowards; they were brave and so are we. We warned those fanning this embers of discord not to take the calmness of the lion for weakness; we are not afraid and shouldn’t be pushed to the wall by faceless miscreants.
“Any attack on Ndigbo by anybody will be visited with an unimaginable revenge. We are not second class citizens of this country. No one is more Nigerian than the Igbo.
“For decades now, Ndigbo have borne the brunt of every crisis in this country; they have paid the price for every upheaval in the country.
“This is one of the major reasons we decided not to be part of the hardship protest or whatever they called it. We knew that the moment we identify with it, they will term it Igbo protest.
“Yet, the same enemies of Ndigbo, the same people who are lurking for the blood of the Igbo people are unrelenting.
“However, we want to sound this note of warning to them; ‘Enough is Enough’. Any attempt to spill the blood of an Igbo man or destroy their businesses and properties will be visited with equal retaliation.
“Those threats will be resisted; henceforth any attack on any Igbo man anywhere in those aforementioned areas must be revenged with every seriousness.
“We are one of the cardinal pillars of this country, so nobody should threaten the Igbo in this country any longer.
“We call on Ndigbo not to be afraid to reside anywhere of their choice in the country and do their businesses; they should not mind the useless threats by those who intend to set the country ablaze.
