Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on the Federal Government to negotiate
with those agitating for the creation of a Biafran republic out of the current
set-up in Nigeria.
Obasanjo
said this at an event, tagged ‘Memory and Nation Building: Biafra 50 years
later’, which held in Abuja on Thursday.
The
event was held to commemorate 50 years of the declaration of an independent
state of Biafra by the late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu on May 30, 1967.
Obasanjo
as the Commander, Third Marine Commando Division, was the military officer who
accepted the surrender of the Biafran forces on January 12, 1970, after three
years of war.
However,
the former President said the agitation for Biafra was like a woman complaining
constantly about her marriage and threatening to file for a divorce against her
husband.
Obasanjo
said in such a situation, the husband must pet and “massage” his wife to make
her feel loved.
He
stated, “I believe that the point must be clear. Nigeria must be loved and we
must treat Nigeria as we treat love affairs. It must be massaged. Nigeria must
be massaged by all of us.
“It
is like a love affair. If in a house with a husband and a wife and the wife
says ‘I am fed up, I am going’ and every day, that is the song you hear, you
will soon get fed up yourself as the husband and you will say, ‘if you want to
go, you can go’.
“But
if there is any misunderstanding and you resolve it, and you find a solution,
you will live together almost forever. I believe there is no substitute for
holding Nigeria and massaging it as you massage love. There is no alternative
and I will say we should even appeal.
“If
anybody says he wants to go, it is not that you will say ‘you can go if you
want to go’. Don’t go! There is enough cake for each and every one of us. If
what you are asking for is more of the cake, then ask for it in a way that is
pleasant, not in a way that will make others feel you are not entitled to what
you are asking for.”
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