A Coalition of 52 Northern Group, (CNG), has warned the Federal Government to be wary of the United Nations (UN)’s interest in the case of the detained leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
The CNG equally cautioned officials of the UN to keep off Nigeria’s internal affairs, particularly Kanu’s case.
This is even as the 52 organisations accused the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) of deception, saying that its failure to execute the threat to embark on a 3-day nationwide strike two weeks after its public protest over the rift between the government and the university lecturers was merely an attempt to gain social power and political influence ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
These were contained in an issued communiqué, signed by the CNG spokesman, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, and issued to newsmen in Abuja on Monday, at the end of the coalition’s three-day retreat.
The communiqué read in part: “We caution the UN to desist from allowing some of its officials to drag it into international disrepute by interfering in particular with the matter of the trial of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu. We equally caution the Nigerian authorities against succumbing to undue pressure from whatever quarter so as to avoid setting a dangerous precedence in the country.
“We condemn unequivocally the obvious double standards and deception by the Nigerian Labour Congress with its unexplained silence on its pledge to resume a three-day nationwide solidarity protest several days after the expiration of their two-week ultimatum for the government to act to resolve the universities workers’ crisis”.
On the 2023 elections, the CNG urged Northerners to ask those seeking their votes to provide comprehensive programmes for the development of the region and promotion of their interest.
“We call on Northern voters to resist the temptation to vote solely on the basis of a political party, region, tribe, or religion and instead, choose to install a credible leadership that could see the nation through and out of its current situation, from if needs be, even the so-called peripheral parties”.
The communiqué further read: “We demand from every candidate seeking northern votes to provide comprehensive programmes for the development of the region and promotion of the protection of Northern interests around security and the economy”.
On the security situation, the retreat also resolved to demand an immediate, transparent and comprehensive investigation into growing concerns over rampant defence corruption running into trillions of Naira.
