National President of the Oodua People’s Congress, Chief Gani Adams, has said that the federal government must listen to the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and many others agitating for a Biafra republic.
Adams emphasized that force cannot be used to guarantee one Nigeria. He also condemned the Zaria Clash between the Nigerian army and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
Adams made this statement in Osogbo after he was honoured as a culture ambassador by the Nigeria Union of Journalists Correspondents Chapel, Osun State at the weekend.
He said “I will just say that they (Biafra agitators) are entitled to self-determination. Look, there is a law in Africa, which recognises right to self-determination. Also, there is a law in the United Nations, which recognises right to self-determination.
“There is a country in the United Nations that has a population of not up to 50,000 and their flag is at the United Nations.
“You cannot use force to co-opt people for the unity of Nigeria; you have to listen to their agitation. If we cannot give you secession, should we give you statism or regionalism?
“That is a negotiation process. The British did not use force against Scotland when it seceded from Britain, and there is Catalona in Spain that wants to pull out, they didn’t use force against them.”
