Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described the “Biafra secession issue” as dead, advising that no Nigerian should give vent to the agitation.
Obasanjo made the statement while delivering his keynote address at a public discussion on Biafra organised by Nextier Advisory in Abuja on Friday.
“Biafra as a secession issue is dead, and nobody should follow that way. I see it as a platform rather than a cause,” he said.
The former president, who said that he was cautious of getting into a debate on Biafra, said: “The agitation was born in error and ignorance.”
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He said the agitation had become commercialised, an industry through which some people made money from gullible people.
He cited the issuance of the Biafran passport, “which takes one nowhere”, by a certain group as an example of some people making industry out of the agitation.
“There is the commercialisation of the Biafran agitation, which is criminal – for example, the issuance of so-called Biafran passport which takes on nowhere,” Obasanjo said.
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“Biafra agitation is as an industry; a means of making money. Biafra agitation is a hopeless and futile exercise of which nobody should embark on.”
The former president also described the Biafran agitation as a cry by the Igbo to be noticed, but he added that it was not a bad idea if the Igbo were using the agitation as a platform to get more from Nigeria.
“If you want to use the agitation as a means to get more from the national cake, that is okay,” he said.
“But not the break up of Nigeria. I will not be part of any discussion to break up Nigeria.”
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4 comments
Mr. Obasanjo, you one of the people who bettered the south east during the last civil war, but this time Biafra has more civilized and intelligent people, please good people of biafra let’s not relent in our goal. It’s only the person putting on the shoe knows where its acheing, they will talk but we don’t care up biafra
Obasanjo is part of the group that constitute a generational curse to the black race. Is he saying he wont be part of a discussion to break Nigeria because Nigeria was made by God? I think he should be ashamed that Cameron a baby when he was kiling fellow blacks in Biafra war had the wisdom to conduct a referendum for Scotland but an old man like him out of ignorance cannot be part of a discussion to break up what Cameron’s grandfathers created. Does Obasanjo even know that the Bight had over 2 Million of our people sold as slaves from there? Does he know that the British are against Biafra for selfish reasons? Does he know that Nigeria benefits the British more than Nigerians themselves? Does he realize how weak his argument is, considering that as young men he slaughtered fellow blacks while the likes of Martin Luther King Jr were fighting for the blacks? How does he feel taking sides with the oyibos who bought us as slaves to subjugate fellow blacks? Obasanjo reminds us of the statement A fool at 40 is a fool forever.
Baba as we all know says it like he feels. There’s a need to be circumspect especially in matters that evoke emotions. Truth be told Biafra should be an ideology instead of a structure. This dream should be killed. We have huge problems in the South East that have no nexus with Biafra. I like PMB’s approach of ignoring the movement. I am a post-civil war child and most people in my group have no business with this profit making venture. Is Rochas’ inability to pay workers related to Biafra. Please we can do better than that.
Obasanjo is ànnoyed 2 igbos bcause his father. former Obi of Onitsha who died 1979 rejected him. Ask anyone or go 2 google 2 ask about his father.