The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) says the coalition of northern youth who ordered Igbo to leave the north do not have the mandate to speak for the entire region.
In a statement in Kaduna on Friday, SOKAPU said the position of the coalition should not be taken as that of the entire north.
Yakubu Kuzamani, spokesman of the union, said the groups were “merely playing the script written by their sponsors”.
“We unequivocally disassociate ourselves from the toxic fumes of hate and bigotry belched out against the Igbo without by the so-called Arewa Youth,” Kuzamani said in a statement.
“The lgbo did not in any way offend Southern Kaduna People. We are a hospitable and accommodating people. We assure the Igbo that their property and assets (movable or immovable) in Southern Kaduna are secured, assured and guaranteed.
“The security of all Igbo in Southern Kaduna is guaranteed. We will continue to accommodate the Igbo and all persons of goodwill towards us irrespective of their primordial, ethnic or religious cleavages.
”The expressed desire of the Igbo to have a separate country of their own is an inalienable right which has not in any way, in our opinion, translated into a crime or provocation to us in Southern Kaduna, the North or the Nigerian state.”
Kuzamani urged the youth to look carefully inward into the north and “they would find that other bigger problems facing the region existence”.
He called on the group to work towards strengthening the fragile mistrust that exists among northerners with other ethnic groups rather than resorting to hate statements and incendiary ultimatum to bonafide Nigerians.
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