National Youth Council of Nigeria has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call an emergency meeting of stakeholders to save Nigeria from the brink of disintergration.
In a statement on Thursday, the Vice President, South-West of NYCN, Dotun Omoleye, said calling the meeting would help to curb the looming “ethnic and insecurity tensions that have triggered demands to break up the country”.
“We view the growing tensions across the nation along tribal, ethnic as religious lines as potential threats to the continued peace, mutual coexistence and unity of our nation that there is no other time to demand proportional response to the yearnings and aspirations of all citizens to be addressed at a roundtable than now.
“As the leader of our country, destiny has today placed it in the hand of President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse this ugly trend so, we passionately appeal to Mr President to immediately create a national platform through which eminent citizens could be brought together to a forum where agitations and grievances could be tabled and addressed once and for all.
“A situation where once friendly, tolerant and accommodating compatriots suddenly began to expand each other’s fault lines is unfortunate, unacceptable and the government must be decisive to deal peacefully to restore order through dialogue,” Omoleye said.
The youth activist lamented the recent declarations for the breakup of the country and ejection notice against citizens residing in different parts of the country by non-state actors.
“There is no doubting the grievances nursed by each ethnic nationality; everyone has its pains and questions, but we have gone too far together; we have mingled too well to adopt breaking up as an option,” he added.
“We therefore strongly align with voice of wisdom, particularly from our traditional rulers and leaders of opinion cautioning against extreme positions, as it is important to seek a melting point through dialogue where our nation could be repositioned through a forum where everyone can give and take.”