On June 9, following a closed-door meeting, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) issued a public statement that the Igbo-dominated southeast should be allowed to secede from the Federal Republic of Nigeria if it was necessary to avoid a civil war. NEF spokesman Hakeem 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 the way.” His statement continued that secession was not in the best interest of the Igbos or of Nigerians. Rather, all should work to rebuild Nigeria. But, blocking secession “will not help a country already burdened with failures on its knees to fight another war to keep the Igbo in Nigeria.” The statement also suggested that northerners subject to harassment in the southeast should return to the north. There was no reference to secessionist sentiment in Yorubaland, in southwest Nigeria, to which former President Olusegun Obasanjo has referred. The former president said that Yoruba secession, too, would be unwise, but that maintaining unity should not come “at any cost.”

Though there is no specific reference to it, clearly animating the NEF statement is the memory of Nigeria’s 1967-70 civil war, successfully fought by Nigerian nationalists to keep Igbo-dominated Biafra in the federation; it left up to two million dead. It, too, involved massive population movements, with Igbos fleeing to the south a northern pogrom and fewer northerners leaving the southeast. In the civil war, northern elites strongly supported the nationalists. Current Igbo disgruntlement has its roots in defeat in the civil war and the belief that they are marginalized from the upper reaches of the Nigerian state. (There has never been an Igbo president of Nigeria.) Such feelings of marginalization are exacerbated by Nigeria’s nationwide epidemic of violence and economic malaise. The NEF, for its part, has responded to rising insecurity in Nigeria by calling for President Buhari to resign or to be impeached. Resignation or impeachment is a reversal of the NEF’s support of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidential candidacy in 2015.

It should be noted that the NEF statement in support of allowing secession had two caveats: that there be widespread support for it among the Igbo but also among their “leadership” (not further defined). While secessionist advocates will argue to the contrary, prima facie evidence for both either way is thin.

Do the views of the NEF matter? How representative is it of northern elite opinion? Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media Femi Adesina responded to its June 9 statement by dismissing the NEF as “a mere irritant” that hardly exists beyond its convener, Ango Abdullahi—a distinguished, former vice chancellor (president) of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. According to Adesina, the former vice chancellor is a general with no troops. Indeed, the influence of the NEF is hard to judge. But, its public statements attract widespread media attention. As with former President Obasanjo’s comments on Yoruba separatism, at the very least the NEF statements is an indication that rising insecurity is leading at least some of Nigeria’s elites to rethink the basis of the Nigerian state—and of the consequences of its civil war.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cfr.org/blog/nigerias-northern-elders-forum-keeping-igbo-not-worth-civil-war%3famp

Yoruba Nation on my mind!

How far about this man that was riding a bike from Europe to Nigeria? Abi bandits don corner him? Middle belt will join Biafra

They know this and still went to war

Ijaw will seceed with Ijaw Republic too.

Get your PVC and VOTE wisely

Machinegun91:
How far about this man that was riding a bike from Europe to Nigeria? Abi bandits don corner him? Middle belt will join Biafra

The man has arrived over a month ago.

North East will join biafuro.

MetaPhysical:
Yoruba Nation on my mind!

Would you vote tinubu as president of Yoruba nation ?

Igbos are ready for Biafra any day any time

mrvitalis:

Would you vote tinubu as president of Yoruba nation ?

Tinubu will not even dare ask for it. Is he drunk? Of all the greatly qualified people to lead Yorubaland, Tinubu? He will probably be a policy consultant to Federation of Yoruba Commonwealth, but not a President.

MetaPhysical:


Tinubu will not even dare ask for it. Is he drunk? Of all the greatly qualified people to lead Yorubaland, Tinubu? He will probably be a policy consultant to Federation of Yoruba Commonwealth, but not a President.

So why are yorubas forcing him on Nigerians ? Tribalism ? To have their kings man up there ?


Peter Obi would beat nnamdi kanu in Biafra presidency election any day any time

Please, let this be true. I am Igbo and I detest this country with passion.
Remember, all the Igbo in other states will go with Biafra.

This is a good news.

mrvitalis:

So why are yorubas forcing him on Nigerians ? Tribalism ? To have their kings man up there ?


Peter Obi would beat nnamdi kanu in Biafra presidency election any day any time

He is forcing himself on Nigerians. Yoruba no force am. We need a king over us, not over other people.

Igbos are the only thing holding Nigeria
No two major tribes in this country love themselves to want to stay together. Yorubas hate hausas, hausas hate fulanis, igbos hate hausas, igbo hate yorubas, yorubas hate Igbos , ijaws hate hausas etc

The only difference is that Igbos fought to secede, and they are being the scape and they are not afraid to voice out their opinion. That's the reason for wat they are going through politically, the others are just pretending for the sake of politics.

zionmde:
Igbos are the only thing holding Nigeria
No two major tribes in this country love themselves to want to stay together. Yorubas hate hausas, hausas hate fulanis, igbos hate hausas, igbo hate yorubas, yorubas hate Igbos , ijaws hate hausas etc

The only difference is that Igbos fought to secede, and they are being the scape and they are not afraid to voice out their opinion. That's the reason for wat they are going through politically, the others are just pretending for the sake of politics.

Igbo put the country in its current dillema. Igbo greed backfired and marginalized Igbo.

Others did not ask Igbo to plot coup, kill military and political leaders.

MetaPhysical:
Yoruba Nation on my mind!

There already is a Homogenous Yoruba Nation which is Benin Republic. Although while I was there, alot of the locals tried to explain to me how even though their Language is Yoruboid, they are not exactly Yoruba, and the ones who agree that they are Yorubas tried to make it sound like they were different or kind of Better than a Yoruba person from Nigeria. Benin republic is one of the poorest countries on the planet, poorer than nigeria, and literally survives on the ingenuity of Nigeria

Dont let the cries of the igbos fool you, Nigeria has been very good for the Yoruba race. Carving out Yorubas from Nigeria, means cutting Yorubas from the very source that is the catalyst for growth and wealth of Yoruba People.

By what is considered an act of mistake and greed, the Europeans put together three of Africas Biggest and most Assertive tribes into a Nation, three tribes who would have NEVER morphed into a country by themselves, and then added the Wealth of the Niger Delta to it. Most people call it a mistake, I see it as a miracle.

We have already learnt how to survive and depend on each other by act of nature, what we now need is a mistake of a barely Good enough President for two tenures. Someone who scores min 55% on all critical issues bedeviling nigeria and a President that understands that we need to carry the ego of the three big tribes along and always appease the Niger Delta. This and I can guarantee you that in 16years this country will be a middle income country.

MetaPhysical:


Igbo put the country in its current dillema. Igbo greed backfired and marginalized Igbo.

Others did not ask Igbo to plot coup, kill military and political leaders.

Going down that lane is stale already
Were u born during those days?
Wat percentage of Nigerians were alive during that period or u still plan to let events of many many years detect the direction of the country today

As for the Current dilemma, keep blaming igbos, don't even bother about buhari, GEJ, OBJ, Abacha and the rest.
You are not ashamed, Rwanda that were in a war 1994 are years ahead of Nigeria, keep looking back

MetaPhysical:


He is forcing himself on Nigerians. Yoruba no force am. We need a king over us, not over other people.

Who are you voting for in 2023

IGBOs are already gone in Spirit...Biafra as a Nation is a done deal. Zombies can eat sand!

Why are we reading news of July 2021 in June 2022? What's the intent?

Mynd44 Lalasticlala Seun

Someone should block this news, please.

Nigeriansns not ready for Nigeriansns any week any moment

mrvitalis:

Who are you voting for in 2023

Presidential candidate of Biafra Redeem Party, Alhaji Nnamdi Adamu Kanu