Enemies in my government, Biafra unacceptable – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari in an interview aired on Saturday told Al-Jazeera that not all the members of his government are 100% loyal to his administration.

The President said there are ‘certainly’ saboteurs in his government and expressed doubts over the fidelity of the government officials he inherited from the People’s Democratic Party-led administration.

Buhari said that “People who want to be fair to us to sit and reflect; from the President to the ministers to the permanent secretaries, they were all taken over after eight successive governments of those who are now in the opposition. So, we cannot assume that all of them are 100 per cent loyal to this government.”

Also speaking on the recent agitation for the Republic of Biafra, President Buhari said that Nigeria would not tolerate any attempts to secede. He stated that those orchestrating the Biafra agitation were joking with security while also adding that it was unfortunate for some people to still be pushing the Biafra agenda after two million people were killed during the Biafra war.

According to President Buhari, who himself was on the battle front during the Nigeria civil war: “At least two million Nigerians were killed in the Biafra war. And for somebody to wake up – may be they weren’t even born then – and now be looking for Biafra after two million people were killed? They are joking with security and Nigeria won’t tolerate it.”

President Buhari also maintained that he would not devalue the naira in spite of the recent suggestions made by the IMF.

He said Nigeria cannot afford to devalue its currency, owing to the country’s heavy dependence on the importation of basic goods. He stated that “If it is against our national interest, why can’t we go against the IMF advice? I have explained that countries that play around with their currencies are countries that have enormous production capacities. They have factories in place. Their infrastructure, in terms of power, communications, and security, are virtually perfect. Nigeria imports virtually everything from rice to toothpicks. Now, if we don’t have the money to import those things, what is the value of further devaluing our naira?”