Biafra Campaign Not Realisable - Sani

Senator Shehu Sani has addressed the ongoing problem of
the spate of the protests for the creation of Biafra state.
Senator, who represents Kaduna central, said he is sure that
this campaign “not realisable”, however, he wants the
Nigerian army to cease the using force against the activists.
Sani issued a statement on December 3, Thursday, defining
the use of force to overwhelm the pro-Biafra supporters as
“ intolerable and unacceptable ”, adding that the nation is
still paying the price for the wrong use of force in 2009,
which caused terrorism in the north-east.
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He said: “ We are a democratic and free country and must
guarantee and protect the right of the people to peacefully
assemble and to express their opinion without intimidation or
harassment.The use of force against peaceful dissent only
encourages a violent reaction.”
“Our security forces must at all times learn to balance the
security exigencies of the state and the need to uphold our
sacred and cherished values of rights and freedoms.We must in
no way be forced to abandon our obligations to protect and
guarantee the liberty and rights of our citizens in the face of
provocations.
“Biafra is not a realizable cause but a new attempt to open
healed wounds and undermine the appreciable political, social
and economic gains made by the very people whom the cause is
erroneously made in their name.”
Senator Sani added that Biafra, as a cause, in its current
form, can only further demonize the very people it has
claimed to represent, and undermine any future national
political goals of people from the region of claim.
“The integration and, to an extent, even the dominance of people
from the south-east in the cultural, social and economic
spheres of the nation is self-evident and working well for the
good of Igbos and the country, a secessionist agitation that will
imperil, upset and subvert this journey to harm and abyss.
“Biafra is an obsolete cause in a new world, and a new nation
not in any slightest of thought ready to detach itself from. For
over five decades, Igbos, like Japanese, have since transformed
and moved away from the status of a defeated people to ones
that lead in enterprise, industry and innovation.
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“It’s natural for any cause no matter how weird to attract
sympathy. However, it will stand no chance of success as long
as it is antagonistic to the interest of the larger section of the
society.
“I call on the security apparatus of the state to handle the Biafra
agitators with civility and caution, and I call on the Biafra
agitators to jettison their impossible mission and embrace the
reality of the indivisibility, inviolability and indestructibility of the
Nigerian state.
“Killing of any peaceful Biafra agitator stands condemned. Any
act of intimidation, arson and harassment of Nigerians from
other parts of the country living in the south-east by the Biafra
agitators stands condemned, too.”
The Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of
Biafra is said to prepare to protest in the state and cannot be
stopped by police.
The body is protesting indiscriminate arrest and detention of
its members by the Federal Government.