Biafra Will Be Too Small For Igbos, Adamu Ciroma Advises Against Agitation

Adamu-CiromaA former Minister of Finance and elder statesman, Malam Adamu Ciroma, has described the agitations for Biafra by some people as an ill-conceived idea.

Ciroma, one of the original founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who has largely kept out of the public arena, argued that if Nigeria, which he considered “too small” for the Igbos was not enough, considering the fact that they are found in almost every nook and cranny of the country, there was no gainsaying that a Republic of Biafra will not be able to contain all peoples of the third largest ethnic group.

“Biafra, this Biafra, I tell my Igbo friends, Biafra, for what? This Nigeria is too small for you Igbos. All over Nigeria you will see Igbos everywhere. If you go to Ghana, Igbos everywhere. If you go to Niger, Igbos everywhere. If you go to South Africa, Igbo everywhere; this Nigeria is too small for you. But now you want something smaller, what does it mean?” he queried.

According to Ciroma, “It means that people sometimes do things without thinking very deeply. But education is to enable you to think and to solve problems”.

“What the Igbos are saying is that they want Biafra; I just remember only recently the Yoruba leaders said they want to break, break from where. The Yoruba are probably the people who economically enjoy Nigeria more than anybody, economically. So why are they going? So my own problem with Nigeria is that many people say things without thinking”, he added.