Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba has blamed the renewed agitation for the creation of Biafra on the failure of past governors of the South-East zone to impact positively on the region with good governance and construction of adequate infrastructural facilities such as good roads, schools, among others.
On return to civil rule in 1999, Orji Kalu of Abia, Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra, Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu, Sam Egwu of Ebonyi and Achike Udenwa of Imo were the first five governors who presided over the zone. Obviously their collective failure to construct adequate infrastructual facilities, the hallmark of bad governance, among others, left a rotten legacy which their successors could not shed and their deficiencies haunt the zone through the era of high crude oil prices into the current era of penury.
In an exclusive interview in Abuja, Hon. Na’Abba said though majority of the people in the zone do not support the renewed agitation for the creation of Biafra, the leadership of the agitating bodies have unfairly targeted some vulnerable class of people to oil their self-serving agenda.
According to him, bearing in mind the economic milestone the Igbos have achieved in different parts of the country, it would be unfair to throw them into another crisis at the moment.
He noted that though there is the need for some form of dialogue “to douse tension,” there is no need for Biafra today, adding that the Nigerian authority should handle the agitation with care.
“There is a sort of conspiracy. Most of the former governors from the Southeast did not do much for their states and this has been a source of frustration for the people of the Southeast. Let me add that it is not everybody in the Southeast that is in support of this Biafra agitation. It is a misguided demand based on propaganda from people who are self-serving.
“I don’t think there is any need for Biafra today. The Igbos are very hard-working and enterprising. They are spread all over Africa. In Nigeria, there are over 25 million Igbos outside Igboland, achieving economic success.
“They are very dominant in the economies of all the states they live in. I don’t think it is fair to throw Igbos into some kind of crisis. I believe there must be some dialogue in order to douse the tension. The leadership of those agitators are just serving their interest. They target their propaganda towards a particular class of people who are ignorant. We have to handle it with much care,” he said.
-Vanguard
