Amidst a renewed agitation by pro-Biafra protesters across the South east and South south with the subsequent clamp down on them by the Federal Government, a former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima, has said that the Biafra agitators were on a legitimate struggle for self-determination.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Yerima said the federal government and the security agencies must allow them to exercise their fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.
He cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigeria Armed Forces against the use of force on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Survival of the Sovereign State of Biafra ( MASSOB), saying the groups were on a legitimate struggle for self-determination and should be allowed to exercise their fundamental rights.
He disagreed with President Buhari and the top echelon of the Nigeria Armed Forces on the handling of the renewed agitation by the groups to revive the defunct Republic of Biafra saying they should be more matured and accommodating in a democracy.
Yarima, who is known for his radical view, said it was wrong for people to classify the agitators who have been campaigning for the revival of the defunct Republic of Biafra as secessionist because they have legitimate rights under the Nigerian Constitution to express their views on any issue.
He said that rather than treat the agitators as rebels who must be forced to either remain in Nigeria or be crushed, the Federal Government should find out why the agitation has been growing by the day.