Former presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba, has said the South East would be left dry without ordinary drinking water if the North decides to cut of ties with the region whom he said benefits from the North more than the north benefits from it.
Garba who made the statement in reaction to threats by the region, saying it would join the secession struggle if power fails to return to the South East in 2023, said the North has everything unlike the south east whose rivers even, depends on the waters flowing from the north.
He said should the North decides to block waters flowing to the region, all rivers from the south east would dry out.
“The North controls the flow of the River Niger,” Garba said as he makes his case on why the South East would stand to lose big if it decides to secede.
“If the North chooses to erect a barricade for the flow of river Niger to the east, all the rivers like Imo River, Onisha River, rivers in the delta with drinkable water and fresh fish will cease and the water flow will dry up.”
He said the North has enough water all across its states, and has the capacity further create “artificial lake and reservoirs to use the water for agriculture and power generation.”
“The North has all the major forests in Nigeria, from Borgu Forest, to Felgore Forest, to Yankari Forest to Gashaka Forest to Sambisa Forest down, which have the longest stretch to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya through Central Africa. Thus the North has it all.
“The North has the River Benue, which flows through practically all states in the northeastern Nigeria to the Middle Belt, flowing from Faro to Gerio to Lake Doe and Lake Chad, linking Cameroon and Chad to the East, Niger and Benin to the West, one of the longest river strings in Africa, all nosing at the North.
“The North has rivers in almost all the states, from Dadin Kowa to Tiga, from Numan River to Yobe River from River Taraba to River Kaduna; all these make a navigable and irrigatable river lines that can sustain agricultural activities through all seasons.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had likened the southeast as a ‘dot in a circle’ during an interview on Arise Television some months ago.
He said the group seeking to secede from the country have no idea how small they are, saying should they get what they are asking for, they’ll eventually realize they have nowhere to go.
“That IPOB is just like a dot in a circle,” he said, adding that “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,” he said.
