Chidi Samuel || Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu on Monday said the country will not allow the infinitesimal few among Nigerian’s to separate one part of the country from the other.
Ikpeazu made the comment while receiving the five northern governors at the Government House Umuahia.
The Governor who expressed appreciation to the visiting Governors for coming on a solidarity visit told his colleague governors that when the crisis started, he asked himself, “in my shoes, what will my brother Tambuwal do?”
The leader of the delegation and Governor of Bornu State, Kashim Shettima, earlier in his remark, appealed to the people of the south-east zone to have faith in a united and indivisible Nigeria.
Shetima said, “On behalf of northern governors’ forum, we are here to commend Governor Ikpeazu on his high-quality leadership in handling the crisis in Abia.”
“He rose to the occasion and declared a curfew in Aba just as Governor Lalong also declared a curfew in Jos to avert a reprisal attack on the Igbo.
“We are here to show solidarity. We have a moral obligation to ensure that Nigeria remains one. Nigeria is the largest conglomeration of black people in Africa and we cannot afford to separate.
“If the nation disintegrates, where will we go? North is the Sahara desert and Chad cannot contain us. If we go south, it is the Atlantic Ocean. South is too small for us and the mountains of East Africa with their so many challenges cannot accommodate us.”
“We are here to remind Nigerians that we are better as one. We are here to also invite our south-east colleagues to also come to the flashpoints of the north to speak to Ndi Igbo living in the north,” he said.