The Presidency has insisted that secessionists are enemies of Nigeria and the Federal Government would never negotiate with them no matter how hard they try.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu who spoke on Tuesday at the APC National Secretariat during a media interface organized by APC Professional Group, said President Muhammadu Buhari was not ready to negotiate or settle secession agitators.
According to Shehu, the presidency has also ruled out the possibility of the present government organising another national conference to discuss critical issues including that of national unity and resource control.
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‘The presidency has been talking. And our position is clear that this country is one, is united, by the grace of God, and will continue to be united.
‘Look, one thing with this President is that you can’t intimidate Buhari. You can’t bully him. A lot of these people who are calling for secessions are the problem of this country and I’m happy that reasonable voices are now rising.
‘Is it not only yesterday (Monday) we were reading Afenifere, the most credible faction of Afenifere saying we’re not for secession The Ohanaze Ndigbo said this over and over again.
‘So this thing about secession is, they had used it in the past. You create secession and break up Nigeria and then you intimidate the sitting leader and then he opens the booth and he brings money to settle people.
‘President Buhari will pay no one. He is not going to pay and now it is clear that having ignored all of that, reasonable opinions are coming from those states and from those regions. The governors in the South West, we have all heard them, they have denounced all of these things.
‘So it’s a sham. Nigerians want to be one, they want to continue. Yes, there are problems and we are hoping that as people united and loving of one another, we will come together and solve our problems,’ the presidency explained.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK