The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has called on the Federal Government to allow the South-East geopolitical zone to leave Nigeria if the agitation for seccession has the backings of their leaders.
The NEF made the call at a press conference addressed by its Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, on Monday after a closed-door meeting of the forum.
According to the NEF, stakeholders in the region seemed to have submitted to violence and terror of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Baba-Ahmed said: “The forum has arrived at the difficult conclusion that if support for secession among the Igbo is as widespread as it is being made to look, and Igbo leadership appears to be in support of it, then the country should be advised not to stand in their way.
“It will not be the best choice for the Igbo or Nigerians to leave a country we have all toiled to build and a country we all have responsibility to fix, but it will not help a country already burdened with failures on its knees to fight another war to keep the Igbo in Nigeria.”
