Military Response To Pro-Biafra Sentiment Not The Solution – Obasanjo
Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari must meet with the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu before violence between the army and separatists escalates into a full-blown conflict.
Obasanjo speaking in London, with Newsweek said that “I don’t see anything wrong in that (Buhari meeting with Kanu). I would not object to that; if anything, I would encourage it,”
“I would want to meet Kanu myself and talk to people like him, people of his age, and ask ‘What are your worries?’ not only from the southeast but from all parts of Nigeria.”
Obasanjo further said that the Nigerian Army’s “heavy boot” response to pro-Biafra sentiment is “not the solution,” but adds that the secession craved by IPOB is not the way forward either.
“We need to satisfy the youth in job creation, in wealth creation, in giving them a better, fulfilled life, in giving them hope for the future,” says Obasanjo.
“There’s no easy way out. “Those who fought in the war in Biafra will not want to fight any other war,” he says. “I have fought one war too many in Nigeria; I don’t want to see another.”
