Former Minister of Health, Professor A.B.C Nwosu has observed that the recent sit-at-home order in the South East was not the real reason the coalition of Arewa youths issued a quit notice to the Igbo in the North.
Nwosu said that there was more to the quit notice on Ndigbo than the adherence of the sit-at-home order in the Southeast.
The ex-Minister, who was fielding questions from Sun, noted, “I have been observing a sit at home for almost 50 years, I was not ordered by IPOB to sit at home. I have been sitting at home for almost 50 years.
“Anybody is free to choose a day to remember the day his father died, his uncle or his relation died. I have been observing it for almost 50 years; I didn’t observe it because of IPOB or MASSOB or any individual.
“I observed it for cleansing, purification and the elevation of the soul. I am allowed to mourn anybody who died, and to choose a date for my mourning, as long as I don’t disturb anybody’s liberty.
“Whose liberty was disturbed by my staying at home? Did I disturb anybody’s liberty? Every other person was free to do what he or she wanted on that day. Why should my doing what I wanted be a problem?
“I can’t understand it at all. For some of us who didn’t sit at home because of IPOB and MASSOB, it is annoying to the extreme for anybody to suggest that anytime I sit at home to remember a lost one, a loved or a lost cause that I’m disrupting the nation. It is silly.
“I think the problem was that they never really knew that most of us were not happy with the position that the Igbo find themselves in Nigeria. I think that is the point.
“I think many people thought that everything was all right with the Igbo; you can shovel shit in to their mouths and they are okay, so long as they are doing business and making money.
“I think that is all that it showed, and it is not all right. Human beings have God given rights and freedoms, and you should let them exercise them, while making sure they don’t trample on anybody’s freedoms or rights.
“It is not any issue. If you don’t want to go to work even as an individual, why would it be upsetting anybody? I don’t understand.
“I think the issue was that people decided therefore to find the peaceful way of showing their brethren and fellow citizens that they are not having a good deal. What is wrong with it?
“Nobody was hurt; no traffic was obstructed, what is the problem there?
“That was not the reason for the quit notice. Somebody sat at home in his house and you said for that reason, he should go away.
“No, that wasn’t the reason; the reason was more deep-seated than that and until we know, we can’t comment.”
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