Mishack  Nnanta, World Igbo Union leader, says south-easterners cannot live peacefully in isolation from Nigeria despite the agitation for the Republic of Biafra by the Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

According to him, the Igbo are peace-loving Nigerians who only want to engage in ‎their businesses.

“Igbo cannot live peacefully in isolation from Nigeria,” Nnanta said when he led other Igbo chiefs on Sallah homage to Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto.

“They should work towards ensuring proper integration, reconstruction as promised by Gen. Yakubu Gowon. They may agitate for creation of more states in the south-east to meet up with other geopolitical zones of the country.”

Speaking while receiving the Igbo leaders, Abubakar warned that anyone who plans to attack the Igbo resident in the northern region would have to attack him first.

“If anybody or group of persons plans a negative attack on Igbos, they should attack me first because I am against the so-called ultimatum issued by the Arewa youth that Igbos should leave the north,” he said.

He stated that “restructuring”, to his understanding, does not mean dividing the country but making “adjustments here and there for equal accommodations of all and sundry in Nigeria for equity and fair play religiously, socially, and economically”.

He further observed that the agitation by some people for disintegration “cannot solve any of the problems facing the country” and that “dividing it into many parts is not the solution for the problems bedeviling the nation because this will lead to towns and villages clamouring to become independent”.

The Sultan suggested that the way forward is a round-table dialogue, not carrying arms, which would never lead to peace. Agreeing that there were genuine complaints that border on marginalization, the Sultan, however, said that the way out is a peaceful resolution.

He blamed the nation’s politicians for most of the problems faced by Nigerians.

“They come to you during campaigns, promise you heaven in your house, air conditions on all roads and milk entering your mouth hourly without any effort from you,” he lamented.

“As soon as they win and go to Abuja, they start planning comfort for themselves while those from the rural areas move to state capitals, abandoning those who voted them.”