Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has once again made a case for the Igbo Presidency in Nigeria while strongly asserting that because the Igbo people tried to secede from Nigeria does not deprive them of having an Igbo President that would rule Nigeria.
Olusegun Obasanjo further 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 often felt uncomfortable when he heard someone assert that no Igbo man 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 elder 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 said.
Obasanjo observed that many Nigerians shared the National League of Democrats’ concerns. The former President stated that he would support the group if it adopted a national vision rather than the current provincial or regional character.
