Leaders of thought from the South-South geo-political zone have berated President Muhammadu Buhari over his “dot in the circle” statement and his assertion that some South-South leaders told him they wouldn’t let Ndigbo access the sea.
The President in an interview on Arise Television had declared that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) whom he regarded as belonging to the Igbo ethnic group are like “a dot in the circle”. According to him, South-South leaders comprising youths and elders have distanced themselves from any alignment with South-Easterners.
Notable South-South leaders such as Annkio Briggs, Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki, Tony Nnadi, Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd) and Rear Admiral Geoffrey Yanga (rtd), jointly decried the statement in a virtual conference organised by Njenje Media TV titled: “Addressing ‘The dot in the circle’ in Buhari’s interview, A return to 1966?”
The leaders, in the Zoom conference anchored by Maazi Tochukwu Ezeoke, bemoaned what they termed “the divide and rule” tactics of President Buhari, stressing that it was a ploy to cause disaffection between the Southeast and their South-South siblings.
The President himself has posed himself as an existential threat to the Nigerian nation and ethnic nationalities that populate the space.
“There are 65 ethnic nationalities as defined by some of our leaders in the entire South-South and the man comes on public television and says he speaks to two elders, and some youths. It is laughable,” he stated.
