CNG cautions OPC, Afenifere against threatening North’s interests

Says region ready to respond ‘coin for coin’

Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has faulted Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, over statements allegedly made against the North.

CNG claimed OPC plans to threaten the North against demanding what was due the region from the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Spokesperson for CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja, said the two groups have no right to speak against the North, stressing that Tinubu received the bulk of his winning votes from the region.

He said: “For the OPC and all other merchants of mindless threats and hate campaigns, we say, the North is neither afraid nor apprehensive of their designs, and we will remain resolute in protecting our legacy and inherited responsibility to all Northerners.

“OPC and all those who have no other useful vocation, but attacking Northerners under the slightest pretexts, should know that the North’s reticence in speaking out or taking action is not borne of fear or ignorance on how to respond in kind.

“Henceforth, we deem unacceptable any further attempt at targeting any Northerner, anywhere, for vilification, systematic dehumanisation, profiling, alienation or any action that will render them objects of attack and persecution, abhorrent to our sensibilities and ordinary decency.

“The North shall, henceforth, respond to any provocation, coin for coin!”

Suleiman cautioned Tinubu to be “wary of the way he relates with proliferated regional jingoist associations, like OPC and Afenifere, lest they drag him into an unnecessary misunderstanding with other sections of the country, by pretending to be his kith and kin.”

He added: “It is no longer news that neither Afenifere nor OPC played any role in bringing about Tinubu’s presidency. What is clear, however, is that they both expressly and impliedly opposed his bid for the presidency, right from the primary to the secondary stages of the race.”