The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, has revealed how he will deal with the agitations by separatists, including the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, and tackle the nation’s security challenges if elected.
Abubakar made this known on Sunday during People’s Townhall, a brainchild of Channels Television and its partners.
He said: “The IPOB issue in the South East is basically, as far as my understanding is concerned, about the realization of Biafra.
“Is it possible for Biafra to be realized today?
“How?
“By negotiations or by going through another civil war, which we can’t afford to?
“I believe we should be able to negotiate with the agitators from the South East as far as the issue of Biafra is concerned.
“We believe what they need is more autonomy as far as their sub-region is concerned.
“That is why we proposed restructuring of the country, by which we mean devolution of more powers and resources.
“After all, there was Eastern Nigeria in the First Republic and they developed at their own pace and with their own resources.
“The agitations are in different perspectives, to my understanding.
“One of them is political and political has the sense of: ‘How does the South East participate in power sharing in the country?’
“And we are in a democratic society.
“There is no one single geopolitical zone in this country that on its own can achieve political power without crossing the Niger or being in alliance with other geopolitical zones.
“I think this is what they should begin to think: How do they partner with other parts of the country to secure political power for their own interests or to protect their own interests?
“I think these are the ways to go as far as agitations by IPOB are concerned.”
On insecurity in the country, Abubakar said he may adopt the security system being used in the United Arab Emirates.
He said: “The security architecture I admire is the UAE security architecture and it’s primarily based on the monitoring.
“You don’t see policemen in uniform in UAE, you don’t see soldiers but virtually everybody is being monitored on a daily basis and particularly if you are a visitor, from the moment you step into the country or go out, anywhere you are going you are being watched and that is the deployment of technology as far as security is concerned.
“That is to say we are aiming for the ultimate, but we have to deal with our current security structure.
“How we reform it to ensure that we give our people a more secure environment to undertake their own legitimate businesses wherever they may be, whether in the rural areas, semi-urban and so on.”
