The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has warned Zamani Lekwot regarding his recent attempt to smear former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in his role in the Zangon Kataf crisis.
CNG Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman who issued the warning in a statement in Abuja, said Lekwot should keep his frustrations to himself and avoid making baseless accusations.
According to the CNG, Lekwot’s accusations are baseless, misguided frustrations borne of pent-up ethnic jealousy aimed at promoting a separatist agenda that will harm the unity and stability of Nigeria.
The CNG believes that Lekwot, since his disgraceful retirement and subsequent indictment in the Zangon Kataf crisis had been nursing sinister grudges against certain sections of the Nigerian society.
The CNG recalled that Zamani Lekwot, who was a retired army colonel, emerged as a key figure in the Zangon Kataf crisis of 1993, using his influence to mobilize the Atyap ethnic group against the Hausa-Fulani.
“Lekwot was found by a Commission of inquiry set up by the then military administration and headed by Justice Rahila Cudjoe to be instrumental in organizing attacks on Hausa-Fulani communities in Zangon Kataf and other parts of the state that resulted in the deaths of many people and the displacement of thousands of others,” CNG said.
The CNG said since his indictment and unceremonious retirement from the military, Lekwot had been licking his self-inflicted wound among the league of authors of mindless violence and separatism.
“As far as Nigeria and Nigerians are concerned, Lekwot is an inconsequential nonentity and his rantings, the rantings of an ant. Indeed no one expects anything good, responsible or reasonable from people like him whose hands are stained by the blood of the innocent.
“We therefore warn Lekwot and others in his league that it is no longer acceptable for any frustrated element to deploy hate campaigns, propaganda, and senseless ethnic agitations, aimed mainly at instigating conflict, ” Suleiman said.
