Obasanjo: Punishing Igbo For January 1966 Coup, Biafra Unfair
• ‘Three major ethnic groups attempted to break up Nigeria through secession’
• Ex-President hosts Shekarau, 19 northern leaders
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said it is unfair to blame only the Igbo for attempting to secede from Nigeria.
He said Nigeria’s three major ethnic nationalities had at one time or the other attempted to break up the country through secession.
The former President said he usually felt bad each time he heard some people saying no Igbo man would become Nigeria’s President because of the ethnic nationality’s involvement in the bloody January 15, 1966 coup that truncated the First Republic.
He said there were Nigerians from other parts of the country who also attempted to secede from the country.
Obasanjo bared his mind while addressing a 20-man delegation of the League of Northern Democrats, led by a former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The elder statesman recalled that there was a strong move by the North to pull out of Nigeria through what he called the vehicle of “Araba”.
He said: “I think all of us in Nigeria have to rethink… It bleeds my heart when people say because the Igbo had carried out a secession and so an Igbo man cannot be the president of Nigeria.
“I say what nonsense? There is no section of Nigeria that has not planned a succession. What is “Araba” in the North? The North planned to break up Nigeria. Ahmed Jooda, a very good friend of mine, said that.
Read Also: Sanwo-Olu, Anyaoku, religious leaders hail Iwuanyanwu’s legacy
“What is treasonable felony? So, who among us can say I am better than the other? None! So, let us put our heads together and build a country together.”
Obasanjo noted that many Nigerians shared the worries the National League of Democrats expressed.
The ex-President said he would support the group if it has a national outlook instead of the present provincial or regional identity.
He said: “You talked about your concerns. If there is anybody that is not concerned about the situation in Nigeria today, then he or she will need to have himself or herself examined.
“I believe your concerns must be shared and understood. I know everywhere I go in Nigeria, people express their concerns. So, the expression of your concerns is understood by many.
“I said maybe we have made mistakes in the past; maybe myself too made mistakes in the past. But whatever may be our mistakes in the past, we do not want to repeat those mistakes.
“You said I am a believer in the greatness of this country. Yes, I am. I am also an incurable optimist in this country. I am totally committed to the goodness of this country. But I believe that if we look back and we want to be sincere with ourselves, we can see some of the mistakes of the past which we must not fall into again.
“So, anytime I hear the North, the West, the East, I feel frightened. That is my honest opinion, because one of the things that have led us into where we are today and we haven’t gone out of is regionalism.
“At the time of our Independence, we were probably the only country or one of the few countries in Africa that did not have one leader. At independence, we had three leaders. So, we attained independence with putting three countries in one and that remains part of our problems for a long time, and it hasn’t completely left us.
“So, when you give the name of your league as Northern League of Democrats, my opinion was how I wish it had been National League of Democrats? But I will also say that you have to begin from somewhere. One of the things I always question myself about is why should my being a proud Yoruba man be in the way of my being a Nigerian? I could as well have been born in Sokoto. The fact that I was born in Yoruba land was not my making; it was God’s making because I could as well have been born in Maiduguri and I will still be a Nigerian…”
No comments