Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that denying the Igbo people the presidency due to past secession attempts is unfair.

Obasanjo made the remarks during a meeting with the League of Northern Democrats led by former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.

Obasanjo said that Nigeria’s three major ethnic nationalities – Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo – have all, at some point, attempted to break away from the country. He cited the North’s strong move to secede through the Araba movement, revealing that his friend Ahmed Jooda had confessed to being part of the plot.

“I think all of us in Nigeria have to rethink… It bleeds my heart when people say because the Igbo had carried out a secession, an Igbo man cannot be the president of Nigeria.

“I say what nonsense? There is no section of Nigeria that has not planned a secession. What is ‘Araba’ in the North? The North planned to break up Nigeria. Ahmed Jooda, a very good friend of mine, said that.

“What is treasonable felony? So, who among us can say I am better than the other? None! So, let us put our heads together and build a country together,” he said.