Obasanjo Says Biafra Agitation Now a Commercial Venture

Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo has maintained that the Biafra agitation died long ago and remains a hopeless cause. He went ahead to say that Biafra has been turned into a commercial venture and a platform, instead of a cause, and noted that the agitators suffer from the error of misreading the history of Nigeria or not reading it at all. In his keynote address at a public discussion on Biafra, organised by Nextier Advisory in Abuja, the former president said, “Biafra as a secession issue is dead, and nobody should follow that way. I see it as a platform rather than a cause. “The agitation was born in error and ignorance. There is the commercialisation of the Biafra agitation, which is criminal, for example, the issuance of so-called Biafran passport, which takes one nowhere and for which unwary people are being charged exorbitant prices. “Biafra agitation is as an industry; a means of making money. Biafra agitation is a hopeless and futile exercise which nobody should embark on. “We must neither allow evil to find work for our youth, nor fill their unoccupied minds with satanic ideas, thoughts, decisions and actions. The way to achieve this is to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation. “In the community, state and national levels, conducive environment and conditions must be created for promotion of private sector entrepreneurs and investors, both local and foreign, to make our different areas as irresistible for investment, job creation and wealth generation destinations as possible.”