Junaid Mohammed, a leading voice for the political North in Nigeria, has taunted the leaders of the South West region in Nigeria saying they are cowards who would be the first to run if war breaks out in Nigeria.
This warning follows utterances that have been made by some Southwest leaders, following the recent killing of Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, leader of Afenifere.
Junaid gave the warning during a recent interview with Daily Independent.
In the past few days, Yoruba leaders, including the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi and the Aare Onakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, have criticized the spate of insecurity in the country.
He said the Yoruba leaders ought to have learnt a lesson or two from the Biafran war.
He said, “We have to be very careful and mind our utterances. It is easy to start a war but it is not easy to stop it,” he said.
“We all saw what happened during the Biafran war even though a lot of people who went through that experience have not learnt anything like some of the leaders of Afenifere. They have been making provocative statements in recent times.”
“People’s lives are determined partly by their culture. These people are noisemakers and if there is a war today, they will run away because most of them have houses outside the country. They make big, big noise but some of the real fighters who will fight until death don’t even talk about it.”
“We shouldn’t allow these lousy people to lead us to war. War is not good. I want Nigerians to be careful because if the chips are down, these people will not be available to fight. They are calling for war, let the war start and we will see who will run first.”
‘Tinubu Is Better Than Fayemi, And Better Than Any Igbo Man’
Junaid Mohammed, a Second Republic lawmaker on Sunday, July 21, 2019, said he will throw his weight behind Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, if he decides to contest the presidency in 2023.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Independent, Junaid said he will rather have Tinubu to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari than any of the candidates in the South East.
He is quoted as saying, “If Tinubu wants to be the President of Nigeria and he asks for my advice, I will say go ahead because I will rather have Tinubu as President than have some of the people in the South East who are ambitious and want to blackmail Nigeria into ceding power to them.”
“I know that no matter what happens, even if Tinubu were to be drunk, he will be a better President than Goodluck Jonathan.”
“I also know that he is better than Governor Kayode Fayemi who is also nursing presidential ambition,” he said.
