TheCable

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says the letter written to President Muhammadu Buhari by former President Olusegun Obasanjo is timely.

According to the group, the letter is a “devasting” blow to the Igbo leaders who endorsed Buhari for a second tenure.

Although Buhari is yet to say if he would seek re-election or not, leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the south-east, last week, endorsed him for second tenure.

But Obasanjo has advised Buhari against seeking re-election.

In a statement on Wednesday, Emma Powerful, IPOB spokesman, described Obasanjo’s advice as a “slap on the faces of the Igbo leaders” who endorsed the president.

IPOB said the leaders should “cover their faces in shame.”

“The statement credited to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was carefully timed to deliver a devastating blow to the scavenging class of politicians in Igboland that shamelessly went to hawk their wares in Abuja a few days ago,” it read.

“The shameless endorsement of Buhari for 2019 by these individuals under the banner Igbo leaders have showcased to the world what a bunch of misery merchants they are.

“We support Obasanjo for his timely intervention because at a time of national crisis and with people losing their lives all across the Middle Belt and southern Nigeria, anybody discussing partisan politics under such an atmosphere of mass misery is not fit to be regarded as a human being talk less a leader.”

IPOB said the letter aligns with the views of Nnamdi Kanu, its leader, that “the only way to reign in a dictatorship is by confronting it head-on with the truth.”

It said the former president have spoken the truth “and should be applauded for it”.

“Those hungry and insatiable APC yes men that visited Aso Rock to endorse Buhari for 2019 under the banner of Igbo leaders should all cover their collective faces in shame,” it added.

“Obasanjo’s statement is a slap on the faces of these individuals parading themselves as Igbo leaders. The timing couldn’t have been more apt.

“It is crystal clear from analysis of Obasanjo’s statement that the new coalition he is calling for is something similar to what IPOB is doing, but on broader all-encompassing scale that will include all ethnicities in Nigeria rather than one restricted to Biafra alone.”