Obasanjo: Denying Igbo presidency for wanting to break out of Nigeria is unfair
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 23: Former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo attends the 2012 South-South Awards at The Waldorf=Astoria on September 23, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images)
Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has said that it is not fair to condemn exclusively the Igbos for seeking to secede from Nigeria alleging that the country’s three major ethnic nationalities had at one time or another attempted to split from the nation.
According to OBJ, he typically felt uncomfortable each time he heard some group of people declaring no Igbo man would become Nigeria’s President because of the ethnic nationality’s involvement in the violent January 15, 1966 coup.
On Tuesday, October 22, he said this to a 20-member League of Northern Democrats delegation headed by former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in the capital of Ogun State, Abeokuta.
According to the older statesman, the North made a determined attempt to leave Nigeria using what he referred to as the Araba vehicle.
“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, an Igbo man cannot be the president of Nigeria.
“I say what nonsense? There is no section of Nigeria that has not planned a secession. What is ‘Araba’ in the North? The North planned to break up Nigeria. Ahmed Jooda, a very good friend of mine, said that.
“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,” he stated.
