The leader of Arewa Youths Consultative
Forum, AYCF, Yerima Shettima has said that
the leader of the Indigenous people of
Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being
influenced by hard drugs and as a result,
behaves like a madman.
Shettima said his recent decision to force
Igbos out of the Northern region of the
country was reached solely because of
activities and comments by the IPOB leader
against Nigeria, the North and president
Muhammadu Buhari.
The AYCF leader, who recently asked Igbos
in the North to ignore the quit notice he
earlier issued to them, told the Sun that
Nnamdi Kanu was getting out of hands.
He said, “This man [Kanu] came from
nowhere. He is never our class in struggles. I
don’t know where he started his struggle,
but he came out and within one year and
suddenly because unfortunately the
government made it easy for him to become
popular; otherwise, Kanu is not an issue.”
Shettima said the Muhammadu Buhari-led
administration made a big mistake when his
governmnet arrested Nnamdi Kanu.
He further blamed, “The government to an
extent; to have even in the first place
arrested this man, somebody who is being
influenced by drugs.
“Who is Kanu in the circle of struggles? So to
me it is high time when somebody behaves
like a mad man and you behave like a
gentleman you realize that this gentleman is
getting out of hand undermining everybody,
abusing everybody.
“You cannot… I am proudly a northerner
and that’s my identity. I cannot be a leader
at my level and allow this man to be talking
and abusing the sensibilities of my people
and you expect me to fold my hands. As a
leader of the youths, it’s impossible.
“We cannot fold our hands when after
Jonathan government, no organization like
IPOB came on board to abuse that
government, now suddenly because we
have a government of northern extraction
under the leadership of Muhammadu Buhari
we fold our hands and allow somebody to
undermine that government and abuse the
sensibility. We did everything, even MASSOB
found it difficult to manage the young man
the way he is going about it.
“A man who few years ago Ralph Uwazurike
employed to work for him suddenly became
a tiger and became a tool against the
collective interest of the Igbo. Now, nobody
can control him. Even the governors and the
Eastern leaders this boy has succeeded in
holding them to ransom. They are scared of
talking for fear of attack from those jobless
youths around him.
“Suddenly they folded their hands. And you
expect us other Nigerians to fold our hands
when somebody who has dual citizenship is
trying to mess up the country?
“From UK to come and mess up the country?
No, we’ll ensure that we protect the integrity
of Nigeria to make sure that we remain
together. No; this is unacceptable.
“My recent decision was borne out of
frustration with this young man who goes
around abusing my identity, my community,
my people, undermining a country called
Nigeria. I am a strong Nigerian, proudly a
Nigerian.”
