The apex socio-cultural organisation in the South West, Afenifere, has berated President Muhammadu Buhari for his recent comment against the Igbo nation.
Afenifere noted that “the President takes delight in ridiculing the Ndigbo which he used IPOB to represent.”
Buhari had during an interview with Arise TV on Thursday said that the, ‘”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 property, 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.”
President Buhari’s statement, according to analysts, showed clearly that the President does not understand that Igbo ethnic bloc is different from the secessionist group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
A statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Sola Ebiseni, in Akure, Afenifere noted that to Buhari, “the Igbo and their territory is just a dot in a circle of the map of Nigeria, which even if they secede could exit to nowhere since the elders and youths of the South-South had assured him of not being part of the secessionist agenda.
“He couldn’t have been reacting to the IPOB but the Igbos whom he said had businesses everywhere.
“His utterances were very unpresidential and in the mode of common expressions with some unidentifiable northern organisations.”
Buhari had during the interview also vowed that IPOB, and other groups in the region will be dealt with by the military and the police.
He said the IPOB will be treated in the language they understand and there will be a difference in a few weeks.
The President maintained his stance on sending the military to the region to combat the secessionists despite the group denying having anything to do with recent attacks on government assets.
Earlier this month, Twitter had deleted President Buhari’s tweet containing some offensive comments many people believe were war threat against the people of the South East region.
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