Elder statesman and deputy leader of Northern Elders Forum, Wantaregh Paul Unongo, yesterday said that no secessionist agitators will be able to break up Nigeria, as notable personalities in the country would do everything possible to stop it.
Unongo, who addressed a world press conference in Makurdi, tagged “Enough of this Activation of the Biafran Debacle”, urged young people protesting on the streets of South eastern states of the country to desist in their own interest.
“Historically, we cannot keep silent when someone is talking about the breakup of this nation-state of Nigeria. This is tantamount to spitting on the graves of the hundreds of thousands of young men and women who paid the supreme sacrifice in that destructive and painful war of unity,” he said.
The former minister of steel, who just turned 80 years, observed that the Biafra protesters, who are mostly below the age of 30 and certainly oblivious of the pain inflicted on the nation by the Nigeria Civil War fought 45 years ago, are being instigated by some individuals who do not mean well for them.
He, therefore, advised the young people advocating for a renewed Biafra to have a rethink, eschew violence and withdraw from the streets so that history does not repeat itself, considering the over three million people that died during the Civil War.
“Nobody should deceive the younger people; they should start living their lives now because we will not allow another Civil War to happen again. Even the architect of Biafra, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, before his demise, aspired for the highest office in the country and led his South East people to return to the mainstream of Nigeria,” he said.
Unongo, therefore, alleged that beyond the Biafra agitation, there was underlying resistance of the probe by the present administration by those perceived to have stolen public money and are now imploring all means to cause distraction so as to frustrate the policy of the government.
