President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted he meant what he said on IPOB—that the outlawed group will be dealt with in the language they understand.
In an interview with Arise TV broadcast on Thursday, Buhari said he has got assurances the southern elders are not in support of the IPOB agitation—that the group is just on its own.
“That IPOB is just like a dot in a circle. Even if they want to exit, they will have no access to anywhere.
“And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and properties, I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about.
“In any case, we say we’ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll organise the police and the military to pursue them.”
Even if they eventually secede from the country, Buhari said, they won’t have “access to anywhere”.
“I was encouraged by what I heard, nobody told me. Two statements from the south-south. One by the elderly people, they said this time around there would be no (secession). And again the youth made the same statement; such encouragement,” Buhari said.