A former Senator, Abubakar Girei, has told the Ibo ethnic group to choose between Biafra and a Nigerian Presidency.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, the former Adamawa Central senator who served from 1999 to 2003 stated that while there are news of imminent breakup of the country, the Ibos still have the most at stake in a united Nigeria.
“I think what is the popular opinion in the North today is that if anybody insists on breaking away from this country, we will not fight to prevent him from leaving the country, he is free to do so.”
“Those that are making noise about breaking away from this country are the greatest beneficiaries of this country. In fact, they are the owners of this country. I know the generality of the people from south- east in particular, where the noise about Biafra is coming from, are totally not in support of the breakup of this country because they know they own Nigeria, the bigger, the better for all of us. Go to my village, you will find them there.”
“Go to anywhere in this country, they are there, living comfortably, owning properties. There is no single tribe in this country that can boast of that. The fact that they allowed some miscreants, of course, I call them miscreants or ill-informed persons among them, to be peddling this type of story to their detriment is not surprising, it is because they are not very sagacious politicians.”
“This is making them lose out in many fronts in this country. Unless and until the Igbo come out and identify solely with the Federal Republic of Nigeria as one united entity, I don’t see how an Ibo man will aspire and succeed in being President of Nigeria. I don’t see it. You cannot be talking about Biafra, and then be talking about being President of Nigeria.”
He also recalled his experience as first timer lawmaker, at the time, the kind of politician former President Obasanjo is, efforts made by a group of Senators to truncate Obasanjo’s third term ambition, and why he (Obasanjo) would never accept that he was behind such an ambition.
He reiterated that the next president after Buhari would be someone much younger and less involved in corruption in the country.
“There is no doubt about that. But you see, any person who has been around in the politics of this country, will see that from all indications, the next president of Nigeria after Buhari, even if Buhari is going to spend another 10 years, is likely to be a much younger person. He is like to be a much younger person.”
“He is likely to be somebody who the generality of the youth of this country will trust. It is very unlikely for anybody who is corrupt to become President of Nigeria after Buhari because anybody that has any iota of doubt, any incriminating, not evident, even allegation against him, may not make it. Anyone that is perceived to be corrupt will not be allowed to smell the seat of presidency of this country. The way things are going now, Nigerians have now become very much aware that their leaders in the past have looted this country dry, and they will not want to come close to any looter, they will not give any looter an opportunity to come to any position of power. So it is very unlikely for anybody who has any incriminating record in the past to smell the seat of the presidency.”