S’East leaders sponsoring protests to frustrate Buhari – NEF

The Deputy National Leader of the Northern Elders Forum, Dr. Paul Unongo, says South-East leaders are sponsoring pro-Biafran protests in order to frustrate President Muhammadu Buhari.

Unongo said it was saddening that the Igbo leaders had not learnt from the debilitating consequences of the civil war which left millions of Nigerians dead.

The NEF leaders, who spoke in an interview with our correspondent, said the resurgence of Biafran agitation was a disservice to the country.

He said he wondered why leaders of the South-East ‘were trying to reap’ from the Buhari government when they voted massively for former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Unongo said Nigerians would resist any attempt to plunge the country into another season of war.

He said, “Many of the youths causing commotion in the South-East are being sponsored by Igbo leaders to frustrate the agenda of President Buhari who has had to bend over backwards to restore Nigeria to normalcy.

“These youths were not born during the civil war. They do not understand what it means to lose over two million lives. The Igbo leaders seem to lack conscience. They are making Biafra look like an attractive war. We seem to have lost our sense of history.

“My people of Tiv land in Benue State voted massively for President Buhari. President Buhari didn’t appoint any Tiv man as a minister. Why didn’t the youths of Tiv land begin to cause commotion? So I wonder why the Igbo leaders are crying foul that they are being marginalised. Many of these Igbo leaders witnessed the civil war and the tragic consequences. The same mistake is being made by sending these youths out on the street to protest.”

Unongo, therefore, asked the Igbo leaders to reflect on the consequences of the American Civil War and the world wars, noting that the wars had left scars that would be remembered forever.

He advised the South-East leaders to caution their youths and seek the convocation of a national conference to discuss their challenges.

He added, “The agitation is potent with danger. It is a charade meant to stop Buhari from retrieving our stolen wealth and from pursuing his anti-corruption agenda. The South-East voted massively for the Peoples Democratic Party. They should live with that. They should not try to reap where they did not sow. In the previous government, they had many big appointments and many people of other ethnic groups were removed just because Jonathan favoured the Igbo.

“Goodluck Jonathan has vacated the presidential seat. How come there was no agitation for Biafra during his tenure? If I were President Buhari, I would call their bluff. But the President must maintain law and order and he must not be deterred. He must remember the letters of history.”