He spoke on his plan on insecurity, ethnic tensions and IPOB agitations during his speaking appearance at Chatham House in London, the United Kingdom, on Monday.
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has revealed his plan for tackling the Biafra agitation, including that by the outlawed secessionist group, IPOB.
He made the disclosure while speaking at Chatham House in London on Monday.
“I will talk and discuss with all agitators. There is nothing wrong in that; people agitate even in my house and I have talked with them,” he said responding to a question.
According to Mr Obi, the agitations are a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years which he promised would be solved by good governance.
“When people start seeing justice, fairness, an inclusive government and doing the right thing, all those things will start reversing itself and that is what Datti and I are discussing,” the presidential hopeful said.
He condemned all agitators but insisted that attention must be paid to the reasons for the agitations all over the place. “Not just the IPOB, we have the Yoruba nation and all sorts.”
“When you have created this level of massive poverty where 63 per cent of your population is poor, you will create all sorts of problems,” Mr Obi said.
IPOB has been accused by the Nigerian government of being responsible for the attacks in the south-east region of Nigeria that have led to the killings and kidnappings of hundreds of people in the region.
The leader of the group, Nnamdi Kanu, is in detention and is being prosecuted by the government for treason.
The group wants an independent country for the Igbos to be carved from the south-east and some parts of south-south Nigeria.
Insecurity and Ethnic tension
Fielding a similar question on how he plans to tackle the security challenge and ethnic tension in Nigeria, Mr Obi said the ethnic tensions in Nigeria today are a result of injustice, unfairness, exclusion, and marginalisation.
“As long as we start doing the right thing, as long as we start building an inclusive society; where people’s talent and hard work match their opportunities, you start seeing those things go down,” Mr Obi said.