Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has said President Muhammadu Buhari must meet with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, before the ongoing crisis gets out of hand.
Talking to Newsweek, Obasanjo, who as president met with Niger Delta militant leaders in 2006 to stop attacks on oil installations, said: “I don’t see anything wrong in that [Buhari meeting with Kanu]. I would not object to that; if anything, I would encourage it.
“I would want to meet Kanu myself and talk to people like him, people of his age, [and ask:] ‘What are your worries?’ Not only from the southeast but from all parts of Nigeria.”
He said the Army’s “heavy boot” response to pro-Biafra sentiment is “not the solution” and added that the secession craved by IPOB, is not the way forward either.
“We need to satisfy the youth in job creation, in wealth creation, in giving them a better, fulfilled life, in giving them hope for the future. There’s no easy way out,” Obasanjo added.
The schoolchildren were reportedly abducted along the Igarra-Auchi Road, near Ikpeshi, Akoko Edo local government area.
Gunmen, on Tuesday, intercepted a school bus belonging to Glory Land Group of Schools in Edo State and abducted two pupils.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the vehicle conveying the victims in the company of other pupils was intercepted at gunpoint, and the abductors dragged the two pupils from the vehicle into a bush.
They were said to be returning to Auchi, Etsako West local government area of Edo, after school when they were taken by their abductors.
The schoolchildren were reportedly abducted along the Igarra-Auchi Road, near Ikpeshi, Akoko Edo local government area.
The spokesman for the police command in the state, Kontongs Bello, confirmed the abduction and said policemen, soldiers and vigilantes were combing bushes to rescue the pupils.
He was quoted as saying, “Two students were kidnapped, but efforts are on to rescue them unhurt. Men of the Nigeria Police, soldiers and vigilantes, are already combing bushes to rescue the students.”
The attack comes a few hours after gunmen invaded the staff quarters of the University of Abuja abducting six people.
