Thursday, 10th June 2021: President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday described the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), clamouring for secession as a dot in a circle that has nowhere to go.
Buhari also claimed that last year’s #EndSARS protest against police brutality was aimed at removing him from office.
The President stated this when he appeared on a television interview Thursday morning.
According to him, those who participated in the protest have made Nigeria unattractive to investors.
He also blamed the protest on the dwindling inflow of foreign direct investment to the country.
He was asked how he could improve foreign direct investment in Nigeria.
In response, he said, “This question was answered last year when there was the #EndSARS protest. You remember the young people that wanted to march here and remove me?”
He added, “Tell the young people to behave themselves and make the country safe, then we can attract real investors to the country”.
Buhari said, “That IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they will have no access to anywhere.
“And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and properties, I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about.
“In any case, we say we’ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll organise the police and the military to pursue them.”
Buhari also said that he has been assured by “the elderly people” and “the youths” from the South-South part of the country that their region has no intention of seceding.
He said IPOB will not have “access to anywhere” even if they eventually secede from the country.
The President then reiterated his statement that IPOB members will be treated in the “language that they understand”.
“I was encouraged by what I heard, nobody told me. Two statements from the south-south. One by the elderly people, they said this time around there would be no (secession). And again the youth made the same statement; such an encouragement,” Buhari said.
IPOB has been agitating for the secession of the South-East.
