A former commissioner of police in Lagos state Abubakar Tsav has said that the leader of the Indigenous People of Bifra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu is toying with fire with his current agitation for Biafra.
Tsav while reacting to the renewed Biafra agitation led by the IPOB leader said Odumegwu Ojukwu who led the Nigeria-Biafra war warned against such acts.
“Every person who was born before 1960 knows exactly what has happened in this country. We had this problem when there was military coup and only a section of this country was targeted. Their leaders and senior military officers were killed by a section of the society and these people happened to be the Igbo,” Tsav said in an interview with the Sun.
“Aguyi Ironsi was made the President. He came and unified the whole country without consultation with anybody. Then there was this counter coup and that was when the problem started and the Arewa people started agitating that ‘Araba’ ‘Araba’. That was the genesis of the problem.
“As regards asking people to go back to their place of origin, it is not the Arewa people that started it. It was the Igbo that started it. It was the Igbo who invited every Igbo man living in other places to go back to the east. And that was the beginning of the war,” he said.
He said the IPOB leader seems to be towing on the same path Ojukwu had warned against.
The former commissioner further called on the federal government to tackle seriously, the quit notice issued to the Igbos living in the North by a Northern youth group.
“And that was when I was a young police inspector. That was why we were transferred from Lagos to Kaduna to replace those Igbo that answered to that call. So, the call by the Arewa Youths is reminding us of the sad old days and it is not good.
“They must have done it out of anger and frustration because upon all that these Igbo have gained in this country, everyday they keep insulting and abusing us; calling us all manner of names and we have distinguished Nigerians among the Igbo who ordinarily should call these people to order but they are not calling them to order.
“I remember I saw a video where Ojukwu said he did not regret fighting for Biafra but he also advised the Igbo that nobody should try to do that again because with the number of people who died and the number of those who lost their properties, it was not worth it.
“He said in that video that he was proud to lead the Biafran war but that he wouldn’t advise anybody to go that way again. But when Kanu started, nobody among the prominent Igbo said anything to condemn it. They were allowing Kanu to say whatever he wants.
“I want to appeal to all the leaders in this country, be it Igbo leaders, Arewa leaders, Yoruba leaders and others to try and douse this tension. If the Arewa youths should insist that Igbo should go back to their area, we are creating another avenue for civil war. And no country fights two civil wars and survives it,” Tsav said.
The former governor of Kano state Rabiu Kwankwaso said Kanu has all the potential to win an presidency in 2019.
Kwankwaso said the IPOB leader could ride on his popularity to contest and win an election in 2019.
The former governor further called on South-East governors to dissociate themselves from the ongoing Biafra agitation to prove their loyalty to Nigeria’s unity.
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