President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said, “Igbos are like a dot in a circle, with nowhere to go to”. Threatening further that Nigerian military would go after IPOB agitators, he added that the Igbo people had a lot of investments in the country to lose ultimately. The president made the statements while responding to questions during an interview at the Arise TV yesterday.
He said he was not aware if IPOB knew what they were pushing for, given the fact that it’s people were scattered across the country doing businesses.
The Commander- in- Chief of Nigerian forces disclosed that the youths and the elders in the South South told him that they did not intend to leave Nigeria.
Based on this assurance, President Buhari emphasized that even if the Indigenous people of Biafra finally separated from Nigeria, they would “never have access to anywhere” .
The President repeated:
“IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they will have no access to anywhere.
” And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and property, I don’t think IPOB know what they are talking about.
” In any case, we say we’ ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll organise the police and the military to pursue them. “
IPOB is a group pursuing the secession of the Old Eastern region known as Biafra from Nigeria. It is one of the most popular and powerful freedom fighting organizations with members in almost all the countries of the world.
The group is often blamed for the current woes of Nigeria, but some dignitaries in the country have expressed contrary opinions.
Professor Kingsley Moghalu, had blamed the current situation of the country on the lopsided appointments of President Buhari, insisting that the agitations by IPOB and others posed no threat to the peace of Nigeria
He stressed that Mr President had refused to recognize the diversity of Nigeria in his political appointments.
Also, the Coalition of Northern Groups(CNG) had similarly condemned Buhari’ s passivity amidst loss of human lives in the country, but was only concerned with the destruction of government facilities in the South East.
The group made this known while reacting to the obnoxious tweet of Mr President against Igbos which created undue backlash in Nigeria.