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THISDAYonline
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Nigeria Under Threat - Ojukwu
From Emmanuel Ugwu in Enugu
Ikemba Nnewi and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, yesterday warned President Olusegun Obasanjo against returning the nation to the path
of crisis that led to the collapse of the first republic.
He gave the warning in a telephone interview at Enugu, saying that the state of emergency imposed on Plateau State
on Tuesday by President Obasanjo was a bad omen for democratic governance.
I remember when we had a similar situation in the West, we all know what it led to, he said, adding, This one Plateau
situation) could lead to the collapse of the Nigerian federation.
Ojukwu, who was a major actor in the civil war precipitated by the similar event in 1966 pointed out that the situation
in Plateau State should be considered a sad development because of its potential to create more crisis.
"Really, it is for me a very sad day for Nigeria. I looked upon it as the beginning of the end. I see it as
marking the collapse of the democratic pretence, he said.
However, the APGA presidential flag-bearer noted that Obasanjo's action did not come to him as a surprise as Obasanjo
has never really hidden his agenda from the beginning.
According to him, Obasanjo's concept of governance has been dictatorial despite the fact that he is presiding over
a democratic government.
Obasanjo from day one has been running the closest government possible to a military government.
Now we see him going from autocracy to naked dictatorship, the Ikemba said. Ojukwu said Obasanjo, by dismantling
the democratic structure in Plateau State was really trying to intimidate Kano and Kaduna, the hotbeds of the North.
But that intimidation could actually lead to provocation,� he said.
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