Obasanjo dismisses Biafran agitators as the same people doing 419 scams and drug dealing

FORMER president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed all those agitating for the recreation of the defunct Republic of Biafra as fake campaigners who should not be taken seriously as they are the kind of people involved in 419 scams and drug dealing.

 

Over the last fortnight, numerous campaigners have stepped up calls for the recreation of Biafra in response to the arrest of Radio Biafra director Nnamdi Kanu. Mr Kanu who operates a pirate radio station out of the UK, was arrested when he visited Nigeria last week and his supporters have organised protests locally and internationally calling for his unconditional release.

 

Many of these demonstrations have been hijacked by secessionists demanding the carving up of Nigeria and the recreation of the Biafran Republic which existed between July 1967 and 1970. Biafra's declaration led to the Nigerian civil war, during which Chief Obasanjo was a brigade commander and ultimately received the Biafran surrender.

 

As the general officer commanding the Third Marine Commandoes of the Nigerian Army during the war,  the then Col Obasanjo oversaw the capture of Biafra's last stronghold the Uli Airstrip. He then signed an armistice with Major General Philip Effiong, the then action Biafran head of state.

 

Adding that there is no more any cause for such agitation today, Chief Obasanjo said those shouting Biafra should just be ignored. Unlike in 1967 when there had been pogroms against Igbos, there is no such unrest today.

 

Chief Obasanjo said: “This is a fake agitation and 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, so they are the people you should ignore.

 

"Philip Effiong came and said Biafra ceased to exist and since that day, Biafra has ceased to exist. We absorbed those we should absorb both into the civil service and into the military and even those we didn’t absorb, who we initially regarded as being retired without benefits, later on we even gave them their benefits."

 

According to Chief Obasanjo, within 10 years of the end of the Nigerian civil war, an Igbo man became the vice-president of the country, pointing out that it took the Americans 100 years before they got to that point.  In addition, Chief Obasanjo pointed out that an Igbo is the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and Ndigbo head many parastatals in this country.

 

Chief Obasanjo added: “That’s why these miscreants should be ignored as they want to get money and they go round and say we are still being victimised. They want to say we are still being treated badly in Nigeria, so that they can take money from people.

 

“The people who are doing this are the same people you will find in 419 businesses, 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.”