Agitations For Self-Determination –Biafra War Veteran, Ohuabunwa

 

The President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Mazi Ohuabunwa says the ethnic groups complaining of injustice and marginalisation in Nigeria will always demand self-determination.

He stated that agitations for independence across the globe are tools used by federating units of a country to seek justice from the central government.

 

Ohuabunwa told SaharaReporters on Wednesday while speaking about different agitations across the country prominently from Igbo and Yoruba people, seeking Biafra nation and the Oduduwa Republic respectively.

The Biafra War veteran said, “Do you know when the Biafra agitation started? The Biafra War was from 1967 to 1970. Then in 1999, Ralph Uwazuruike started a fresh agitation through the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). That was when (President Olusegun) Obasanjo was in power. So, it’s been long that the agitation started, before Nnamdi Kanu came to start his own called Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

“You know anywhere you have a federation, there will always be one group or the other who are campaigning for separation. Look at the case of Scotland and the British Government. Sometimes, these agitations are used as a standard to check what the federation is not doing right. That is one.

“Number two, in the case of Nigeria, because of the perceived marginalisation, perceived injustice towards certain segments of the country, the agitations now become more prominent. And that’s why you are having the IPOB. But, you know of Oduduwa Republic, Arewa Republic and others.

“These are because of current feelings of injustice from different segments of federating units in the country. And the solution is to cure the injustice. That’s the solution, not demonise one group, but for us to see the reason why these agitations are coming up.”

Ohuabunwa, however, said the disintegration of a country cannot be done by a certain aggrieved group, rather it has to be discussed by all groups involved.

“The agitations can be realised but not by one group. It is going to be realised when this country says this is the way we want to go, and the country goes that way. You can’t realise self-determination by one group. If one group can realise it, we would have realised Biafra in 1967 when we went to war or when we declared it independent. It can’t be done with the use of arms.

“It has to be by agreement with other sections of the federation. You can’t force secession unless you are going into a rebellion. And rebellion comes with its consequences. So, it has been by negotiation, by discussion and eventually if all the groups see that your breaking away will be good for you or good for us, then they let you out.”

The elder statesman, who is also the Convener of a New Nigeria Group, said he would be in the race to become president in 2023 to unite the country. He also clamoured for the rotation formula of the presidency and the fact that no region owns Nigeria.

“The reason I’m coming out to be president is to unite this country against all these injustices and shortcomings. God is ready to answer our prayers of restoring this country and that’s why people like me are coming out. My aim is to unite the country. The country is not owned by anybody. It is not owned by the North or the South, East or West. Nigeria is owned by all of us.

“If we don’t do something about our rights, other people will take our rights. The country belongs to all of us. That’s why we said if the leadership of the country can be rotated, let’s rotate it. In the process, we will see other methods of leadership that can help improve the unity of the country, to help the economy.”

He advocated for peace and channelling the motivation towards building the nation.

According to him, agitations will not cease until the maltreatment of some groups in the country is addressed by the Nigerian government.

“The unity of the country by one group threatening each other. It doesn’t work that way. If we keep on like this, we will remain unstable for many years. The energy we should channel to creating jobs, doing lucrative business, building the economy are diverted to buying arms and killing one another. All this must stop.

“Everybody has one share each in this country, and you can contribute and also make your voice heard. Most of the things we’ve been doing in this country are that some of us, including me have been writing, criticising, blaming without doing anything. I think we need to do something.

“All the agitations will go on in as much as there is no effort made to assuage the feelings to correct and repair every perception or every feeling of injustice or maltreatment or marginalisation. There are too many unhappy people in this country. How do we turn this country into a place of happiness for all of us? Like I said, if we want to create a republic, we can sit down and discuss.”