It’s unfair to deny Igbo presdiency for attempting to secede from Nigeria – Obasanjo

• The former former Nigerian leader said the country’s three major ethnic nationalities had at one time or another pushed for a secession from the country

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has said no individual or group should be denied the opportunity to lead and manage the affairs of Nigeria.

He expressed concern over the rhetoric that a Nigerian of Igbo extraction can’t be allowed to become president because of the civil war.

He spoke while addressing a 20-man delegation of the League of Northern Democrats, led by former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital

The former former Nigerian leader said the country’s three major ethnic nationalities had at one time or another pushed for a secession from the country.

He stated that it was not fair to blame only the Igbo for attempting to secede from Nigeria.

He said he usually felt bad each time he heard some people saying no Igbo man would become Nigeria’s President because of the ethnic nationality’s involvement in the bloody January 15, 1966 coup that truncated the First Republic.

Obasanjo stated that there were Nigerians from other parts of the country who also attempted to secede from Nigeria.

The elder statesman recalled that there was a strong move by the North to pull out of Nigeria through what he called the vehicle of Araba.

“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 noted that many Nigerians shared the worries expressed by the National League of Democrats. The ex-President said he would support the group if it has a national outlook instead of the present provincial or regional identity