Shetima Yerima, the leader of the Arewa Youth Forum who gave the Igbo living in the Nothern part of Nigeria three months to vacate the Northern region following the agitation for an independent state of Biafra by a Biafran separatist group (IPOB) resides in Lagos, according to Mr. Femi Falana, SAN.
Falana described both the Biafran agitators, the Arewa Youths and other separatists groups agitating for a breakup of the Country as ”showboaters”.
At a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, the respected civil right activist said that Yerima is a ”Lagosian”, a term used to describe all those who reside in Lagos.
Falana said, “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.”
“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.”
While lambasting Ango Abdullahi for backing the Arewa Youths, Falana advised Nigerians to “look at those things that tie us together and not those ones that the ruling class are using to divide our people”.
He said,“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.”
“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.”
Falana called for a more concrete conversation on restructuring and federalism.