Biafra: Meet With Nnamdi Kanu” – Obasanjo Tells Buhari

Olusegun Obasanjo, former President, has encouraged President Muhammadu Buhari to meet personally with Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biaria (IPOB).

Speaking in an interview with United States-based Newsweek magazine, Obasanjo said he would want to meet Kanu, were he the President.

Obasanjo, who was an army officer during the 1967-to -970 Nigerian Civil War, added that deploying the country’s military to the south-east is “not the solution” to the current crisis”.

He also noted that secession, as is being agitated by IPOB, is not the way forward either.

“I don’t see anything wrong in that. I would not object to that; if anything, I would encourage it,” Obasanjo replied when asked if he supports a possible meeting between Buhari and Kanu.

“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.”

“Those who fought in the war in Biafra will not want to fight any other war. I have fought one war too many in Nigeria; I don’t want to see another.”

Obasanjo pointed out that economic development is the surest way to the diverse agitation currently going on in Nigeria.

“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. There’s no easy way out,” he said.

The Nigerian defence headquarters on Friday declared IPOB a terrorist organisation, citing many red lines that the group had crossed in the course of its agitation.

They include: the inauguration of a Biafran Secret Service, many attempts to attack soldiers and snatch their rifles, and wielding of assorted crude weapons with which they terrorise the general public.

Also, after an emergency meeting on Friday night, the South-East Governors’ Forum issued a communique declaring the IPOB illegal and warning them to desist from their activities.

Kanu, IPOB’s leader, is currently undergoing trial for treason. The bail granted him on health grounds may be revoked after the federal government filed an application informing the courts of his violation of almost all his bail conditions.