Shettima Yerima, leader of the Arewa Youths
Consultative Forum, says he is not on the run over the
quit notice issued to the Igbo in the north.
Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, the youth
leader said he would submit himself if declared
wanted, but that for now, no one is looking for him.
Yerima alongside other northern youth leaders had
asked the Igbo in the region to leave – a move that
attracted widespread condemnation.
Although Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state –
where the notice was issued – had ordered the arrest
of the youth, the police are yet to implement the order.
Yerima said he is not above the law and that he is
willing to submit himself to the police if asked to.
“I did not go into hiding and will never go into hiding.
We need to put the record straight,” he said.
“For now, nobody is looking for me and I am ready to
submit myself if I am called. I am not a joker. Nobody
is looking for me and I am not hiding anywhere from
anybody. I am in my village, I am a Nigerian. If
anybody looks for me, I will submit myself. I am not
above the law. I am not on the run.
“Why should I go into hiding? I have a name, I have a
face. I am not faceless. I am not hiding anywhere.
Why should I hide? Where did I go wrong?”
He said the groups were justified in the quit notice
issued to the Igbo and that there was nothing wrong
about it.
“Somebody wants to go and I said, ‘go, you’re free to
go’. What’s wrong with that?” he asked.
“You cannot be in our country and begin to clamour for
another country. Go to your place and declare your
own country, not in my zone. It is a simple language. I
have not committed any offence.”
TheCable
0 Comments