By Ajuma Edwina Ameh
President Muhammadu Buhari has finally broken his silence on the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), championing lgbo secession from Nigeria and dealt a coup de grace to the organization.
“IPOB will not have access to anywhere even if they eventually secede from the country.
“IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they will have no access to anywhere.
“Anyway, we have said we will talk to them in the language they understand. We will organise the police and military to pursue them, that’s what we can do and we’ll do it,” the president said.
Buhari spoke in an exclusive interview with Arise TV broadcast on Thursday and monitored by Persecondnews.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had on Wednesday in Abeokuta told the secessionists to perish the thought, restating that he and others fought in the Nigerian civil war (1967-70) with their “blood and sweat” to keep the country as one entity.
He, however, said no Nigerian was born in the country to be oppressed.
Obasanjo said:”I am a strong believer of one Nigeria, but not one Nigeria at any cost; but one Nigeria where every Nigerian can feel proud that he or she has a stake in this country.”
Buhari, reinforcing Obasanjo’s assertion, said:”With the way they are spread all over the country, having business and property, I think IPOB does not know what they are talking about.”
Persecondnews recalls that the Buhari administration had proscribed the organization and declared its leader, Nnamidi Kanu wanted, who has since gone on self-exile.
The President also addressed other vexatious issues like the IPOB, Twitter ban, insecurity, insurgency, #EndSARS, succession among others confronting his administration.
On the 2020 #EndSARS protest against police brutality in the country which drew both local and international attention, Buhari concluded:”lt was aimed at removing me from office.”
He blamed those who participated in the protest for making Nigeria unattractive to investors, adding that the protest was responsible for the dwindling inflow of foreign direct investment to the country.
“You remember the young people that wanted to march here and remove me?Tell the young people to behave themselves and make the country safe, then we can attract real investors to the country.”
On insurgency in North-East Nigeria, Buhari said “it is largely fuelled by youth unemployment and poverty.”
According to him, his government has done a lot to fight terrorism, but the problem in the “North-East is very difficulty.”
“The problem of the North-East is very difficult. We have problem of unemployment, problem of youths looking for what to eat.
“The level of poverty is unimaginable, and this is our problem,” the president said.
Buhari further disclosed that he had directed the military and the police “to deal ruthlessly with insurgents and other criminals across the country”.
Also, on the the issue of zoning and succession, he disclosed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would decide who succeeds him as president and not himself in 2023.
Buhari said: “About succession, what this administration can do is to make sure APC lasts beyond this administration.
“We have started registration from ward to local government and to the state level. That way, the APC can know the number of members they have state by state and local government by local government, so that by the time this administration goes, the legacy can continue.
“And that is the best way to go for the party and for the country.
“I told the acting chairman and a committee to give me the report by the end of the month on the convention they are going to conduct and then arrange general elections until 2023. All the elections.
“And we started this from bottom to the up, so that members of the party will be sure they are involved in decision making.
READ ALSO: SouthEast not planning to secede
Nobody is just going to sit in Lagos and tell them what to do. This is what we are arranging. So those who want to be president, better join APC.”
Asked to comment on Twitter suspension in Nigeria by his administration, the president declined comment.
