Reuben Abati, former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has commended Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for his efforts at ensuring that Nigeria remains a united, but he believes the Acting President is not meeting with the right set of people.
In an article published on his website on Tuesday, Abati said the meetings that have so far taken place between Osinbajo and elders of both the Northern and South-Eastern regions of the country may not achieve the desired result because many of the elders do not believe in a united Nigeria.
He said: “The Federal Government under Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has been holding meetings with key stakeholders within the Federation. The consultations are in order, but the Acting President is yet to talk to the right people.
“He is talking to people who carry their international passports in their pockets because they don’t know what tomorrow promises in Nigeria. He is consulting persons whose family members are mostly one-leg-in-one-leg-out Nigerians; many of them in fact have dual nationality.
“Nigeria is their trading post, the place where they make the money they and their children spend in Dubai, UK and wherever.”
Abati said it would yield better results if Osinbajo was to engage with “the angry Igbo youths who now kneel down to greet Nnamdi Kanu and call him their god; the Arewa youths who have told the Igbos to get out of Nigeria and get away, and who have called the Yoruba names while further insisting that they are not afraid of the Nigerian government arresting them”.
“The people to talk to are the leaders of the various other groups who are taking sides,” he continued.
“Leaders of the Middle Belt and the South-South are holding talks; some Yorubas are planning to hold theirs this week in Ibadan.
“Draw the map of the emerging rhetoric in Nigeria today; what you have is a divided country. The scenario is so painfully reminiscent of the early 60s.
“Crisis management is an important part of nation-building. We have failed to manage most of the crises that have befallen our nation, on a sustainable basis, and that is why every proverbial snake that is killed suddenly resurrects.”