The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) nominee for president, Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday, outlined his strategy for dealing with separatist agitators, such as the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Sunday.
Atiku asserted that the demands of pro-Biafra agitators were negotiable while speaking at The People’s Townhall in Abuja, a live event organized by Channels Television and its partners.
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He said;
The IPOB issue in the South-East is basically, as far as my understanding is concerned, about the realisation of Biafra. Is it possible for Biafra to be realised today? How? By negotiations or by going through another civil war, which we can’t afford to?
I believe we should be able to negotiate with the agitators from the South-East, as far as the issue of Biafra is concerned. We believe what they need is more autonomy as far as their sub-region is concerned.
That is why we proposed restructuring of the country, by which we mean devolution of more powers and resources. After all, there was Eastern Nigeria in the First Republic and they developed at their own pace and with their own resources.
Speaking on what he described as middle-of-the-road solutions, the former Vice President said he saw no reason restructuring and devolution of more powers and resources could not quell the various agitations of the separatist groups.
Atiku explained;
The agitations are in different perspectives, to my understanding. One of them is political and political has the sense of ‘how does the South-East participate in power sharing in the country?’ And we are in a democratic society.
There is no one single geopolitical zone in this country that on its own can achieve political power without crossing the Niger or being in alliance with other geopolitical zones.
I think this is what they should begin to think: How do they partner with other parts of the country to secure political power for their own interests or to protect their own interests. I think these are the ways to go as far as agitations by IPOB are concerned.
Over the weekend, the (IPOB) said it will deal with anybody or group attempting to enforce the purported five days sit-at-home in the southeast, warning that its security arm, the Eastern Security Network, and IPOB volunteers have been mandated to smoke out such miscreants.
IPOB in a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful has equally pointed out that the group has only one leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
It also warned the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to stop referring to Simon Ekpa as a former leader of the group, insisting that he was never a member of the group.
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