Labor Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has said that the various ethnic upheavals in Nigeria are the product of failed leadership.

Answering questions during his speech at Chatham House, London, Obi said fairness, fairness and fairness would solve the problem of turmoil in the country.

Asked by a member of the audience at the event, Ajiboye Tunmise, from the University of Huddersfield, about his alleged refusal to condemn the activities of members of the secessionist group Indigenous People of Biafra, Obi said: “Many don’t follow me. Even yesterday, I talked about how Biafra ended 53 years ago. It’s everywhere in cyberspace.”

The former governor of Anambra State said he condemned all agitators, but added that it was not enough to condemn them. He said it was important to identify the causes of the various upheavals in the country.

“I condemn all the agitators, but when condemning them, one must see what provoked these agitations everywhere.

“Not just IPOB. We have (the) movement of the Yoruba Nation and all kinds. When you have created this level of mass poverty where 63 percent of your population is poor, you are going to create all kinds of problems,” Obi said.

He also claimed that the country’s unemployment rate added to the ongoing ethnic turmoil, noting that it was all a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years.

“I spoke to a British minister this morning that we have around 40 per cent (rate) unemployment and around 60 per cent (rate) youth unemployment, young people of working age doing nothing. If you have a 15 percent unemployment rate in Britain today, you’re going to have a mass upheaval. No one will be able to leave your home.

“So what you’re seeing is a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years that will be resolved by good governance; When people start to see fairness, equity, and inclusive government and do the right thing, all of those things will start to reverse. And that is what Datti (Baba Ahmed) and I are offering,” he said.

Obi added that he would involve all the agitators in the country and insisted that there was nothing wrong with such an approach to solving the problem.

“I will talk and argue with agitators, and there is nothing wrong with that. People get agitated in my house and I talk to them,” she stated.