"All we want now is referendum" – Coalition of Northern youths release new press statement

The coalition of Northern Youth Groups which on Tuesday gave Igbo three months to leave northern Nigeria, has urged the Federal Government to initiate the process of a referendum for the Igbo and other Nigerians to re-examine their citizenship.

The coalition said yesterday that they did not advocate violence but a peaceful means of achieving what they believed in.

The spokesman of the groups, Abdulazeez Suleiman, said in a statement,  "We reiterate our call on Nigerian authorities and recognized international bodies such as the ECOWAS, AU and UN to hasten the initiation of the process for the final actualization of the Biafran nation and with it the excision of the Igbo out of the present federation."

He said the coalition endorsed the moves made to allay fears and urged the  people to be peaceful and law-abiding while at the same time resolutely insisting on having the right thing done by allowing the Igbo to move to their dream country in accordance with the universal fundamental right to self-determination.

"We restate that we have never called anybody to violence and that people should discountenance the elements of fear and threat introduced by the distortions of merchants of mischief," he added.