Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president, has stated that it is unfair to hold the Igbo exclusively responsible for their desire to break away from Nigeria.
According to the former Nigerian leader, the three main ethnic groups in the country have all tried to secede from one another at some point.
He claimed that because of the ethnic group’s role in the brutal January 15, 1966 coup that ended the First Republic, he typically felt uncomfortable when he heard someone assert that no Igbo guy would be elected president of Nigeria.
According to Obasanjo, Nigerians from other regions of the nation also made an effort to break away from Nigeria.
He said this while speaking to a 20-member League of Northern Democrats delegation at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in the capital of Ogun State, Abeokuta, which was led by former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.
According to the older statesman, the North made a determined attempt to leave Nigeria using what he referred to as the Araba vehicle.
“I believe that everyone in Nigeria needs to reconsider… When people claim that an Igbo guy cannot be president of Nigeria because the Igbo carried out a secession, it breaks my heart.
“What rubbish do I say? Not a single region of Nigeria has not made plans to secede. In the North, what does “Araba” mean? Nigeria was about to be divided by the North. Ahmed Jooda, a very good friend of mine, said that.
What is a felony that involves treason? Who among us, then, can claim that I am superior? Not one! Therefore, let’s work together to create a nation,” he remarked.
Obasanjo stated that the National League of Democrats’ concerns were shared by a large number of Nigerians. The former president stated that if the group had a national perspective rather than its current provincial or regional character, he would back it.
