Olusegun Obasanjo says President Muhammadu Buhari should meet Nnamdi Kanu,
leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), before the ongoing crisis gets
out of hand.
Obasanjo said: “I don’t see anything wrong in that [Buhari
meeting with Kanu]. I would not object to that; if anything, I would encourage
it.”
Talking to Newsweek, Obasanjo, who as president met
with Niger Delta militant leaders in 2006 to stop attacks on oil installations,
said: “I would want to meet Kanu myself and talk to people like him, people of
his age, [and ask:] ‘What are your worries?’ Not only from the southeast but
from all parts of Nigeria.”
He said the army’s “heavy boot” response to
pro-Biafra sentiment is “not the solution” but adds that the secession craved by
IPOB is not the way forward either.
“We need to satisfy the youth in job
creation, in wealth creation, in giving them a better, fulfilled life, in giving
them hope for the future. There’s no easy way out,” he said.
effectively classifying them along Boko Haram and Ansaru who are disturbing
Nigeria’s peace in the North East.
