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| Olusegun Obasanjo |
Speaking during an interview at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, on Wednesday, Obasanjo described the agitations by the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and other self-determination groups as misplaced.
Obasanjo said that equating the agitations by pro-Biafra groups with the agitations that led to the Civil War amounted to making a mountain out of a molehill.
“This is a fake agitation. You people make a mountain out of a molehill. These are boys who want to take people unaware and get money out of them in the name of Biafra. These are the people you should ignore, I don’t talk about Biafra. (Philip) Effiong came and said Biafra ceased to exist and since that day, Biafra has ceased to exist.”
Biafra leader as of the time the war ended, Philip Effiong, surrendered to Obasanjo by calling off the war.
Obasanjo said that in the spirit of “No victor, no vanquished,” the Nigerian nation absorbed Igbo people into the civil service and the military after the war, adding that there were no promises made to the then secessionists that the Nigerian state had not fulfilled.
“We absorbed those we should absorb both into the civil service and into the military. Even those we didn’t absorb, who we initially regarded as being retired without benefits, later on we even gave them their benefits. Abandoned houses were returned. Within 10 years of the end of our Civil War, an Igbo man became the vice-president of our country.
“It took the Americans 100 years before they got to that point. So, what are you talking about? They have held all the ministerial positions existing in this country. We have Igbo as the Governor of Central Bank, Igbo has headed many parastatals in this country.
“That’s why these miscreants should be ignored. They want to get money and they go round and say, ‘We are still being victimised. We are still being treated badly in Nigeria,’ so that they can take money from people.”
Absolving Igbo leaders of complicity in the agitation, Obasanjo said they (Igbo leaders) were not in support of the agitation.
“I won’t blame the Igbo leaders. I will ignore them (the agitators). Igbo leaders that I’ve talked about, I mean the ones I’ve mentioned; Joe Irukwu won’t go out and do that type of thing, and many of them. The people who are doing this are the same people you will find in 419 business, they are the same people you will find in drugs all over the world. To them, this is another source of money for them as far as they are concerned,” Obasanjo said.
Source: Agencies
