Igbo Quit Notice: Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Condemns October 1st Ultimatum

The Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Barr. Onofiok Luke, has described as “a high level of insult” the recent call by some northern youths on members of the Igbo community residing in the northern parts of the country to vacate the region. He said the call insults the sensibilities of not just the people of the South-Eastern region of the country but Nigerians in other parts of the country.

Condemning the October 1 ultimatum on Thursday in Uyo while receiving in audience a delegation from a foremost socio-political group in the state, the '1 for 8 Initiative', the Speaker said Nigeria had gone past the stage where people should be holding tenaciously to tribal differences.

The ‘1 for 8 Initiative’ has a membership cuts across the major tribes in the country.

Barr. Luke who is the Vice - Chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly in the South-South Zone of the country and a former Speaker of the Nigeria Youth Parliament, challenged leaders of thought from the North to rise and condemn the action of their youths.

He said that Nigeria's unity should be encouraged rather than sabotaged by an group of persons.

"Let me use this opportunity to condemn in totality the call by some youths in Northern Nigeria asking the Igbos to vacate that part of the country. If we have been preaching unity, if we have contributed our quota in this part of the region to build infrastructure in the entire country, the North inclusive, we take it as high level of insult on our collective sensibilities for anyone to call on fellow Nigerians to vacate their region.

"We must all call on the leaders of the North to please rise and condemn this in totality, because we have only one country and that is in the country called Nigeria. And we will work assiduously to make for the unity, love, progress, prosperity and peace of this country"

The Akwa Ibom Speaker commended One for Eight Initiative for incorporating other ethnic groups in the organisation without discriminating on the basis of ethnicity, religion and gender.