Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has
said that Shettima Yerima, a leader of the northern
coalition that issued a quit notice to the Igbo, does
not reside in the north but in Lagos state.

Speaking at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday,
the human rights activist described Yerima as a
“Lagos man”.

“The man who is giving quit notice does not live in the
north; he lives in Lagos. I am saying this, Shettima
Yerima lives in Lagos. He is a Lagos man. So to live in
Lagos and be giving quit notice is not the answer,” he
said.

Falana also criticised Ango Abdullahi for backing the
quit order, and urged Nigerians to “look at those things
that tie us together and not those ones that the ruling
class are using to divide our people”.

“Poverty is the same all over the country; injustice is
injustice all over. So, there is no nation without
challenges and there is no nation without problems. It
is the ability of a nation to rise to the challenge that
matters,” he said.

Falana called for a more concrete conversation on
restructuring and federalism.

He said the vocal proponents of both issues are merely
showboating and not really keen on them.

“Those who are talking about restructuring, many of
them are talking in the air. We must concretise this
now. You can’t have political restructuring without
economic restructuring. If you are talking about
restructuring, you can’t be selling the assets of the
country to individuals,” he said.

“Those who are talking of restructuring and federalism
are not interested in these areas. But we must all
remind them that the Awolowos, the Ahmadu Bellos
and the Azikiwes of this world addressed social
services for our people. That is no longer the case. So,
please this talk about restructuring and federalism
must be concretised.

“You can’t be going to Abuja every month to take
money and yet, you are talking of true federalism. True
federalism means you must produce what you need in
your area and then, we can ask everybody to pay tax.”

TheCable