Victor Ezeja
Minority leader at the Nigerian Senate, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe has said he is not a pro-Biafra activist but fights for social justice.
He made the clarification during an exclusive interview with Prime Business Africa at his Ohuru-Obingwa hometown, Abia State.
Sen. Abaribe has been notable for his constant criticism of the Federal Government, especially on matters of insecurity, economy, and welfare of the Southeast geo-political zone.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHe explained that why it looks like he is a pro-Biafra activist is because he fights against what he considers as unfair treatment of the Southeast in the scheme of things in Nigeria, adding that such treatment is fueling the agitations by youths in the region.
His words, “Southeast has been treated unequally and anything that concerns the South East is treated in a different manner. And I have openly challenged the federal government under the APC for using nepotism as a weapon and it is this weaponization of nepotism that has continually inflamed the agitations of the youths in the South East. And when people don’t have anywhere else to go, what they do is resort to violence or anti-democratic behaviours.”
READ ALSO: APC Under Buhari Weaponized Nepotism – Abaribe
It could be recalled that the senator who is representing Abia South senatorial district, had in 2017, signed the bail bond and surety for the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu; and also at some point called for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari over his inability to tackle issues of insecurity which is leading to incessant killings in the country.
Abaribe said his drive has always been to beam his torchlight on issues of marginalization of any section of the country and on problems arising from failure of governance to make the government sit up and do the needful. This he said, has endeared him to the hearts of his colleagues at the Senate who overwhelmingly voted to have him as the minority leader.
He noted that most of the things he was lamenting about and calling on the government to address particularly, insecurity right from 2015 when the current administration started, have turned out to be overwhelming the country with the terrorists striking at will in different parts of the North, indiscriminately killing and kidnapping people for ransom.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
