Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has reacted to claims that he has Igbo paternity.

According to him, such a claim makes him laugh as he does not believe anybody in Nigeria should be driven away from any part of the country.

Obasanjo added that irrespective of the cultural differences “we own this country together.”

The former president stated this when he received the leadership of Ndigbo Amaka Progressive Market Association, an umbrella body of major markets in Lagos State at the boardroom of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Abeokuta, on Thursday.

In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo who did not speak much further on the paternity claim issue, simply said, “It just makes me laugh.”

The former President noted that the leadership of the group reached out to him to support the establishment of the Owerri Central Market positioned to be the best of its kind in the country.

He acknowledged that the Central Market Owerri had been contemplated since the creation of Imo State, adding that for one reason or another, it has not been implemented, “but, I am glad it is coming up again and I hope this time, we are all going to make it real. It is going to be big, the first of its kind.

“Having ensured that the Yorubas, Igbos and Hausas all came together to fight the war of unity in Nigeria, and “not to fight Igbos to go, but to come. So if anybody says to me, that somebody should leave any place, he will be the one to leave” he said.

In his remarks, the group’s spokesperson Emeka Emmanuel who read a letter jointly signed by their leaders Chinedu Ukatu and Iwuchukwu Ezenwafor said the market will be a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship assuring of the group’s determination to play its role in the growth of the market and the nation.

He further sought the help of the former President towards actualizing the global market which, according to him, would remove a great number of people from the streets.

Emmanuel added that the assistance of the former president would go a long way in helping their members obtain loans to purchase shops and spaces at the market.