By Ezeocha Nzeh
The Federal government on Tuesday cautioned the Indegenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as well as the Yoruba group in the forefront of agitation for the Republic of Biafra and Oduduwa respectively to desist from the secession push, warning that no amount of unlawful activities would intimidate President Muhammadu Buhari to bow to their pressure.
Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President, Garba Shehu who gave the warning after an interface with a group of APC stakeholders in Abuja the unity of the country was not negotiable, even as he disclosed that the president hampden his position clear that the country would remain one, and united
“Look, one thing with this President and the National secretary has said a bit of that, you can’t intimidate Buhari. You can’t bully him.”
Shehu, who described those calling for secessions as the problem of the country noted however that reasonable opinions are now being voiced out by concerned citizens from the zones where the agitations are coming from
“Is it not only yesterday we read Afenifere, the most credible faction of Afenifere saying they are not for secession.
“The Ohanaze I Ndigbo has said this over and over again. So this thing about secession, they had used it severally.
He accused the agitators of using their agitation to intimate the President to compensate them, stressing that the president cannot be intimidated by such threats
“You create secession and break up Nigeria and then you intimidate the sitting leader and then he opens the booth and he brings money to settle people. President Buhari will pay no one.
He is not going to pay and now it is clear
“The Governor’s in the southwest, we have all heard them, they have denounced all of these things. So it’s a sham, Nigerians want to be one, they want to continue. Yes, there are problems and we are hoping that as people united and loving of one another, we will come together and solve our problems”
On the challenge of insecurity, he said, “this thing about security that no day passes without media reporting killings. It is tragic, nobody is happy that deaths are being recorded. But the point I want to make is that, it is in human nature we don’t know any country in the world today that is crime-free. When the question was raised I was going to my WhatsApp message and interesting conversation recently, was around the publication of a New Nigerian newspaper Tuesday, November 16, 1966 and on the front page of this Newspaper There is a story saying: “Midwest police rescue 10 kidnapped men”.
“If you open the press today and some people are reporting kidnapping you will think that this is the first time crime in the country. I’m not saying it is welcome home, please I shouldn’t be misunderstood.
“Even in the United States of America, two days ago people were shot and killed, eight of them for no reason.
“So we have problems with infiltration of unauthorized weapons this is why President Buhari ordered that anyone caught with AK-47 that is not law enforcement agent, is not authorize that person should be shot immediately, don’t surrender that weapon. We know where it is all coming, I’m not going in the history, all of the things that are happening in the Sahel and Libya, uncontrolled and ungoverned (faces) around us and the terrorists been recruited from our own people and the people from far and distant places, including those that were displaced in Iraq and Syria and Libya. So is a big challenge, let us cooperate with law enforcement agencies in the country and to curtail these things and a lot of the times and I’ve said this a number of places.
“We also have bad eggs in our own communities who reveal the secrets of our military, they had this one in Katsina and said it before. A tea seller near the airport when they move the aircraft from Katsina Airport to operate against the bandits in Zamfara State, this man that sold tea near the airport. The sponsors of bandits hired him, built a house for him, bought him a golf car and gave him money to do bigger tea business. Each time an aircraft took off from Katsina Airport to go and operate i in Zamfara, he will call them on phone and say they are coming by the time they get there, the target have disappeared. So there are bad people in our communities. What are we doing a citizens to rid ourselves of informants because the military people are as human as we are they have blood running in their veins.”
