Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African Province(ISWAP) have appointed a governor for parts of Borno, denting official claim that the terrorists are not in control of any Nigerian territory.
The terrorists, who have accepted the leadership of Abu Musa Al Barnawi, son of Mohammed Yusuf the Boko Haram founder, appointed the governor under a new leadership restructuring by an Interim Council.
The group appointed a separate leader for ISWAP.
The governor, according to a report by PR Nigeria, was identified as Abba-Kaka.
He is the governor of Tumbumma, with jurisdiction over Marte, Abadam, Kukawa, Magumeri and other areas of the Lake Chad region.
Abba-Kaka will work with Abubakar Dan-Buduma as the Operation Commander, Timbuktu Triangle.
Abba-Kaka’s government has the structure of a normal government as it will impose taxes on fishing activities and farming.
It also has its own judiciary.
Baba Isa who was appointed to oversee Taxation and Revenue on Fishing activities was posted to Kangar in Abadam to relieve Abu Abdallah.
Ibn Umar is now Chief Prosecutor, Abu Umama becomes Amir of Tudun Wulgo, while Muhammed Maina is the Commander of Sabon Tumbu, among others.
PRNigeria further gathered that the Interim Council introduced Mobile Courts and some policies to harmonise all insurgents activities and groups under the leadership of the ISIS.
It has also established two Caliphates at Lake Chad and Sambisa Forest to to sustain its war against countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the report, the Interim Council has lifted the ban imposed on fishing and farming activities in the Lake Chad area, three years after chasing people out of Marte, Abadam, Kukawa and Guzamala, over alleged spying for Nigerian troops.
It nevertheless, imposed new taxes and levies in the areas controlled by ISWAP-Boko Haram, to regulate trades and agricultural activities.
Henceforth, members of the terrorist sect will be collecting N5,000 monthly from traders and farmers, while the fishermen will pay N2,000 per bag of fish among other levies.
Several fishermen, farmers and merchants have returned to the Lake-Chad area to engage in socio-economic activities, under the arrangement of the new ISWAP-Boko Haram Leadership, PRNigeria reported.
Armed Fulani bandits have abducted babies, nurses and security guards from the residential quarters of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre (NTLC) in Zaria, Kaduna State, IgbereTV has learned.
PRNigeria, a news agency with close ties to security agencies, reported that the bandits stormed the area from a nearby forest. They engaged police officers in a gun battle before they escaped with their victims, the agency reported.
The area where the kidnap occurred, known as Saye District in the outskirts of Zaria, is close to notorious Sabon Birni, Galadima and Malu Forests where armed bandits keep their victims hostage.
When contacted, the Kaduna Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, told PRNigeria that Nigerian troops have intensified efforts to rescue the victims.
Kidnapping for ransom is becoming a norm in Kaduna and many other states in Nigeria despite the efforts of security agencies.
Charly nwa-mgbafor as he is fondly called by his peers at Isuofia in Aguata local government area of Anambra state was that young lad with a humble beginning in the village. Though born of an illiterate mother, Charly nwa-mgbafor changed the narrative of his life; fetching firewood from the bush, fetching water from the stream, fetching feeds for goats, setting traps for bush rodents and running other errands on bare foot. Soludo never had the premonitions that he would traverse the continents of the world in his early 30s despite not being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. As the Igbo adage says a chick that will grow into a cock will be spotted the very day it is hatched was the story of Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo who is currently on the verge of becoming the next governor of Anambra state.
At St. Martin Catholic Church field Odata Ihiala where he told APGA faithful of his humble beginning from the village, Prof. Soludo said his late mother’s dream was for him to be like one Ugoji a village headmaster even though his mother never saw the four walls of a classroom in her lifetime. In spite of his late mother’s apparent deficiency in reading and writing, she would always enquire about his performance at school after returning from the village market. Soludo in an emotion-ladened voice recalled how he realised many years after his mother’s demise that the woman didn’t go to school but loved education and ensured he had a solid foundation. That was how Charly Nwa-mgbafor, the village boy from Isuofia Aguata local government area of Anambra rose from grass and has continued to enjoy the grace of God in his life.
At Uga Boys Secondary School, young Soludo exhibited exceptional brilliance. He was the cynosure of all eyes and thus became the senior prefect. Unlike some of his peers who had the luxury of being brought to school in a vehicle, Soludo trekked to school in the rain and in the sun but remained intrepid in the pursuance of his ambition. His mother would say, “My son do not despair. I know you will make me proud someday. How was school today? Welcome back my son. Eat your food. Then go and fetch firewood for me. May the gods of our ancestors guide and protect you for me.” Those were his mother’s best wishes for him when he was still a little boy in the village. Though Soludo’s mother did not live enough to behold the transformation of her son from a mere village lad to an internationally recognised figure but like the saying goes no one wrestles with his god; hence little Soludo found solace in the legacies his mother left behind.
In spite of the vicissitudes of life, Soludo moved on to the University of Nigeria Nsukka where he became the most outstanding graduating student of his era with a First Class Honours in Economics. That was how the village boy from Isuofia broke the jinx of poverty and abject penury and continued to fly high in the sky like the Eagle. The same University of Nigeria Nsukka was where he obtained his Doctorate Degree and thereafter became a renowned Professor of Economics from whence he became a shrine nations of the world consulted for divinations. The story of Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s miraculous escape from the countryside to the rest of the world is a vivid portrayal of the saying that all hope is not lost if one remained resolute, steadfast and determined to face life squarely irrespective of outcomes.
His mother’s legacy indeed was his pathfinder because she wished her son would take after Ugoji the village headmaster. That wish came to pass many years after she joined her ancestors and her son Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo not only surpassed Ugoji the village headmaster but also became the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as well as an economic adviser to many countries of the world. Today, that village boy from Isuofia is also a member of the economic team of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Indeed, the eye that looks down will surely see the nose and the finger that fits should be used to pick the nose. Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo who began his missionary journey from a remote village in Isuofia, has served the world and has decided to return to his home state (Anambra) to do the needful.
Now, the village boy from Isuofia is the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the November 6 governorship election and has equally chosen a reputable medical expert in the person of Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim to be his Deputy. It therefore behoves on Ndi-Anambra to bestow their mandate on Charly Nwa-Mgbafor and his running mate to enable them to consolidate and continue from where Governor Willie Obiano and his Deputy Dr. Nkem Okeke will stop. November 6, 2021 will certainly be a date in the life of Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, a village boy from Isuofia Aguata local government area of Anambra state Nigeria.
The Leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has confirmed that he was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya by people purported to be Kenyan security agents.
Kanu, who spoke through one of his attorney, Mr Aloy Ejimakor, said contrary to the denial of the Kenyan Government of involvement in his arrest and extradition that he was actually abducted in Nairobi.
The Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Amb. Wilfred Machage, had on Friday during a Press Conference in Abuja denied his country’s involvement and expressed displeasure over reports that IPOB leader was arrested in his country, while admonished Nigerians to ask the Federal Government how the IPOB leader was apprehended.
But Kanu’s counsel while refuting the Ambassador’s claim told our correspondent that Kanu had informed them during an interaction with him at the DSS office that he was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya by Kenya security agents.
Ejimakor said, “According to him (Kanu), he was abducted in Nairobi, Kenya by a gang purporting to be Kenyan security agents who later turned him over to Nigerian security agents.
“Our independent private investigators in Kenya have also confirmed it. Again, it was not an arrest but an extralegal abduction; or what is known to lawyers as an extraordinary rendition”.
In talking with the spokesperson of IPOB, Emma Powerful, he confirmed that they had their last communication with Nnamdi Kanu on the 19th of June 2021. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu told them he was embarking on a sensitive journey. Shortly after that his phones went dead.
Below is the lawyer’s account of the visit:
Update on meeting with MNK today, 2nd July 2021:
My Client – Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was actually abducted by the accursed Kenya’s Special Police Force on the 18th of June 2021 at their International Airport, and consequently taken to an undisclosed residence under dehumanizing conditions.
He was tortured and subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment which worsened his health condition. He was illegally detained for eight (8) good DAYS in Kenya before being transfered to their Nigerian counterpart.
He was purportedly investigated on a bogus charge while in their custody, ostensibly, awaiting to be handed over after their findings proved him innocent of all the spurious allegations. They later beckoned on their Nigerian Counterpart to take over.
Kenyan Government was deeply involved in the abduction, detention and ill-treatment of my Client before the illegal handover to their Nigerian counterpart.
A scan of his heart showed that the heart has enlarged by 13% due to the dehumanizing treatment meted to him. There will be need for immediate proper medical examination and attention for him.
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu conveyed his goodwill message to all IPOB family members worldwide, and craved for your unrelentless prayers.
We are going back to the Court for the needful. Other details cannot be entertained here.
His fortified legal team will address these infractions at the proper forum as we progress. Other details on our legal strategy, may not be made public.
With Chukwuokike Abiama on our side, Victory is assured. For if God Almighty be for us, who can be against us?
The invasion of my home by Nigerian security operatives and the Department of State Security’s (DSS) announcement that am wanted has made it essential for me to set the records straight for Nigerians and the international community.
Nigerian security operatives invaded my residence in the early hours of Wednesday, 1 July, 2021. The invasion was done without a search warrant. I was not invited for questioning/investigation at any government facility before the invasion. The operatives that stormed my residence destroyed my properties, killed persons and stole valuables and money. Pictures and videos of their atrocities have been widely reported in the media.
Nigerians and the world at large are aware of my resistance to the incessant killings, raping and kidnapping of my people in Southwest Nigeria by armed Fulani herdsmen. The failure of President Muhammadu Buhari and his government to curb the criminal activities of the murderous herdsmen necessitated my intervention. I ordinarily would not have intervened if government had lived up to its responsibility of securing the Southwest and Nigeria at large from the criminal activities of the President’s ethnic men.
Of public knowledge, my intervention has not let to any loss of life or bloodshed. My means of curbing criminality is to the chase the criminal Fulani herdsmen out of their hideouts in company of the people of the affected communities. It is because of the foreseen government persecution that videos of such interventions were transmitted live on social media. Nigerians, the security operatives, and the presidency are aware that I have never moved against the peaceful Fulani’s and other tribes living peacefully in the Southwest. My unjust persecution — for defending my people and community — is therefore surprising and unwarranted.
After several unsuccessful attempts to link me to any crime, the Buhari regime desperately opt to forcefully silence me, so that the criminal herdsmen, who enjoys government’s sympathy, protection and immunity, can easily outrun the Southwest. The presidency’s serial antics and desperation to acquire people’s ancestral lands across Nigeria for foreign Fulani herdsmen because they share ethnicity and occupation with the President is well known to Nigerians and the international community. I am being seen as a threat to the Fulanization agenda in the Southwest, hence the desperation to soil my name.
Nigerians and the international community should please be aware that the security operatives that invaded my home either planted the ammunitions being paraded in the media in my home or harvest them from their armoury to frame me. The arms paraded are not mine, they are government magic. I protect myself with traditional powers, not with guns.
Federal government framed me up and the sequence of events brings the truth bare. Why would the security agents invade my home at night and destroy my surveillance cameras before carrying out their operation if not that they had an ulterior motive? In this modern age of technological advancement, why did the security operatives not put on body cameras to record their activities from the point of entry to their time of exit? Their action is a testament that the Buhari regime is incurable of using desperate approach to silence peaceful social interventions.
The unwarranted military invasion of Lekki, gruesome killing of peaceful EndSARS protesters, and evacuation of their bodies on 20 October 2020 is still fresh in the mind of Nigerians. A similar approach was adopted during the invasion of my home. The security operatives killed scores and took away their bodies. Buhari’s regime would have declared that ‘unknown gunmen’ invaded my home if they had succeeded in killing me. Nigerians and the international community should beware that desperate efforts are being made to force those arrested to make implicating confession statement. I advise the DSS to desist from their unprofessional acts and devote such energy to eradicating insecurity.
Nigerians and the international community should please note that I am a law-abiding citizen without blemish. I advise President Buhari to, in the interest of Nigerians that voted him to power, order his henchmen to desist from using falsehood and unholy tactics to soil my name. Such energy should be devoted to taming the herdsmen and bandits freely committing heinous crimes across Nigeria with impunity because their kinsman is in power.
Yoruba people would not be demanding for a nation if government had lived up to its responsibilities. Self-determination is not a crime and all effort to silence us and acquire our ancestral land for local and foreign criminal herdsmen will fail. Many Ken Saro-Wiwa arose after Nigerian government unjustly executed the non-violent activist. Those that emerged after him confronted government and almost brought Nigeria to its knees. I am another Saro-Wiwa. Therefore, I advise President Buhari to learn from the mistake of past governments. I am not Nigeria’s problem and should not be framed up or intimidated for contributing my quota to ensure peace reigns in my region and country.
Olayomi koiki
Spokesman chief Sunday Adeyemo
2nd July 2021
On Thursday June 24, 2021 I stumbled on a viral video from Zamfara state. In the four minutes clip, a notorious bandits’ kingpin could be seen boastfully confessing in front of senior security officials of the atrocities he committed against the Nigerian state and its people. The man, popularly known as Dan-Karami is said to be one of the senior gang members of the deceased Buharin daji, a bandits’ general who controlled the rural areas of Zamfara until his death in 2018 in the hand of one of his other gang members, Dogo Gide. Dogo Gide had ‘repented’ and submitted himself to the Government of Zamfara state under Abdulazeez Yari and Yari decided to use him to kill his boss. Gide had since resumed crime and is operating from his base in the vast forest reserve spanning several North Western and central states. He and Dan-Karami were among the many gangsters that sealed and breached several peace agreements with Governments of Zamfara and Katsina states.
I watched the video clips several times and upon enquiry I came to know that the senior Government officials were there to beg him to allow people to go to farm in the areas he controlled now that it is rainy season. The areas he controlled, as he stated in the clip are south of the Jibia-Gusau highway where he claims to be responsible for “any crime you hear of”. It is noteworthy that a week earlier 53 people were killed in the area. That is many times the number of Nigerians killed due to IPOB activities since it started.
Going by what he stated, the Nigerian Government has no other option except to go and beg him since, according to him, he has victoriously repelled all attempts by the Nigerian Army to defeat him. In one of those attempts, he stated, he was attacked by a combined team of Nigerian and Nigerien security forces and he defeated and killed more than half of them. He also confessed of kidnapping forty children from Zurmi township at another point in time.
Another thing he stated worth examining was the initial rejection by the now deposed Emir of Zurmi to dialogue with him or any other terrorist for that matter. If what he said was true, the Emir only agreed to speak to him after it was clear to the Emir that Government could not defeat him. The question to ask here is, if the Emir decided to be communicating to the outcast in order to protect his people, was he doing or not doing the right thing? Why was he deposed by the same Government that now decided to go and smile with a confirmed criminal who has admitted killing several people including our soldiers? When has the Nigerian Government become a coward that aims only at soft targets?
After watching that video, I began to wait for a statement from Federal Government. None came, at least not to my knowledge. The expectations of any citizen who watched that video would be the Government would now launch a major manhunt for the criminal to face charges of murder, treason, kidnapping, etc. Alas! The attention of the leaders of APC and PDP is not there. Their concern is not how Nigerians can sleep with their eyes closed or how many criminals are brought to justice but how many politicians from one party defect to another. Unfortunately for the people of Zamfara state the next thing they heard is that their Governor was now defecting to ruling (sorry “governing”) party as if that is what would solve their problem.
But there is one thing I did. After watching that video I decided to send it to the media aide of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and requested him to give it to his boss in case he had not seen it along with our message of disappointment.
My choice of Abubakar Malami is deliberate for two reasons. One. He is not one of those opportunists who only began to support Buhari with the windstorm of 2015. He has been the supporter of Buhari from day one and is thus a witness to all the promises his Oga made to Nigerians. Two. He is the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
Nothing has changed. The Sheikh Gumis are busy going from one bandits’ camp to another and calling on Buhari to give salaries to Fulani criminals. The Kabiru Gombes are all over the place telling masses that Saint Buhari is not responsible for the protection of their lives and property since he has appointed Northerners to take charge of security. The Masaris are there blaming the masses for waiting for Government to give them protection. That is the very sad predicament Northerners have found themselves. You are on your own if fate makes you an ordinary Northern Nigerian.
Yesterday, while the rest of us were still waiting for action (although sincerely speaking most Northerners have lost hope), Malami appeared on our television screens to tell Nigerians that Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB was arrested “through the collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and security services”. That is a good news, I thought, but it is no news. Kanu has never been the major problem of the rural farmers of the North. His arrest will never make Kaduna-Abuja, Kaduna-Birnin Gwari, Jibia-Gusau, Kankara-Sheme or any of those highways safe. It will never stop the harassment of our people killed, kidnapped and raped by bandits on daily basis. So what if he is arrested?
But Kanu is being “accused of instigating violence especially in the Southeastern Nigeria that resulted in the loss of lives and property of civilians, military, paramilitary, police forces and destruction of civil institutions and symbols of authorities.” Here is someone right here on the Nigerian soil boasting of having committed all these atrocities and daring Government. Yet, the Government is going there to smile at him. Is that not an irony?
Chukwuma Charles Soludo, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), candidate in the November 6 gubernatorial election in Anambra State, has right from primary school been noted for uncanny brilliance, but hardly did any person expect him to chose Dr Onyeka Ibezim, a medical doctor with expertise in public health, as his running mate when he announced the selection on June 30. Dr Ibezim was not among those speculated both in the mainstream and social media. Still, when he was announced to be the deputy governorship candidate, the whole of Anambra State went agog.
“For those of us from Eastern Nigeria,” says Valentine Ntomchukwu, a lawyer, political scientist and the first Anambra indigene to serve as Deputy Inspector General of Police, “it is reminiscent of how Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president, chose little known Dr Michael Okpara, the Minister of Agriculture and Production, to succeed him as the Eastern Nigerian premier in 1959 over and above such prominent persons as Dr K. O. Mbadiwe”.
The retired DIG notes that Dr Okpara went on to do a splendid job, thus confirming Zik’s uncommon foresight. Okpara’s emergence as Eastern Nigerian premier is now considered one of Zik’s remarkable legacies because under the former’s leadership, Eastern Nigeria became one of the world’s fastest growing economies up to 1966 when a military coup ended Nigeria’s First Republic. The region excelled in manufacturing, tourism, education, agriculture and mining, among other sectors.
Ntomchukwu also states that Professor Soludo’s choice of Dr Ibezim, a medical doctor like Dr Okpara, is reminiscent of Dr Alex Ekwueme’s emergence as President Shehu Shagari’s running mate in 1978. “Everyone was expecting Alhaji Shehu to announce such a well-known name as Dr JOJ Okezie or Dr Mbadiwe as the vice presidential candidate, but he opted for little known but exceedingly brilliant Dr Alex Ekwueme, Nigeria’s most successful architect”, recalls the foremost security and intelligence consultant based in Abuja. “Dr Ekwueme was to emerge one of the greatest true statesmen Nigeria has ever had”.
It says a lot about the quality of Soludo’s running mate that he holds as many as three portfolios in the Governor Willie Obiano administration, yet his pictures are not everywhere in the media. Dr Ibezim is the Special Adviser to the Governor on Indigenous Medicine and Herbal Practice, working with traditional doctors as well as with medical and pharmaceutical researchers to develop and modernize traditional health practices. He is also the Executive Director of the Anambra State Action Committee on HIV/AIDS which has worked assiduously to contain the prevalence of these twin sexually transmitted diseases. Dr Ibezim is, in addition, the Managing Director of the Anambra State Oxygen Production Plant in Awka, a facility conceived by Governor Obiano but which he implemented. The plant produces 200 cylinders of oxygen daily, and they are distributed free to not only state government health facilities like primary health cenres but also the Federal Government-owned Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital in Nnewi. A COVID-19 patient consumes between six and 10 cylinders daily. The oxygen is also used in the treatment of Lassa fever which occurs in some parts of the state intermittently.
The establishment of this plant in August, 2019, remains one of the most significant attainments of the Obiano administration, even though it is not well celebrated. Established a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, the plant stands as a testimony to the vision and commitment of the state government. While many states in Nigeria, as around the world, were struggling with oxygen availability in the worst days of the pandemic which led to several deaths, Anambra was spared this tragedy. Not to be forgotten is that Dr Ibezim is a member of the Anambra State COVID-19 Case Management Team which has done an impressive job of mitigating the pandemic in the state. Yet, such a person with an impressive record is no household name even though his elder brother and look-alike, The Most Reverend Dr Alexander Ibezim, is the Anglican Bishop of Awka Diocese and also the leader of the whole Anglican Church in Anambra State because he is the Archbishop of the Province of the Niger. “The younger Ibezim is a silent and smooth operator”, says The Venerable Amaechi Okwuosa, Managing Director of the Awka Capital Territory Authority.
So, how did Soludo discover Dr Ibezim? “It all boils down to Professor Soludo’s outstanding brilliance”, according to Oliver Ikueze, a retired school principal who in the late 1970s and early 80s taught the teenager that would become the Central Bank of Nigeria governor in 2003. Ikueze taught Soludo at Uga Boys High School in Aguata Local Government Area in Anambra State. “Charles”, recalls the septuagenarian, “is arguably the most brilliant student I ever taught anywhere in the decades I served as an English and Literature tutor after graduating from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I have followed his progress with great interest. I am by no means surprised that he became a globally respected economics professor, nor was I surprised when he unleashed a revolution which brought the Central Bank of Nigeria into global reckoning. He sees ahead of most people and is exceedingly thorough”.
Sources close to the erstwhile CBN governor disclose that rather than capitulate to various vested interests within Anambra State and beyond who wanted one candidate or another as his running mate, Soludo beamed his searchlight quietly on each recommended person. He asked a lot of people in the party and in government and various communities to give information on each person without disclosing the purpose. It was a rather an informal exercise, so those giving the information were frank in doing so.
In the words of Frank Ndu Ndibe, a Lagos-based legal consultant and an indigene of Amawbia, Anambra State, “Very few persons can be successful deputy governors or vice presidents. That’s why many governors quarrel with their deputies and presidents don’t trust their deputies, as in the case of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar or General Sani Abacha and General Oladipo Diya.
“Personal integrity, record of achievements, intelligence, buying into the governor’s or president’s vision, being a team player and being humble matter”.
This writer understands that the APGA standard bearer interviewed the candidates and asked extensive questions, the way American presidents scrutinize those they want to appoint into their administration.
“He submitted three names to the party’s leadership which approved the list, and he subsequently announced Dr Onyeka Ibezim from Mbaukwu in Awka South Local Government Area his running mate”, reports a party executive who doesn’t want his name in the media because he has no mandate to speak to the press on this issue.
Various sources within APGA and the Obiano administration have confirmed the above account of how Professor Soludo selected Dr Ibezim, a knight of St Christopher in the Anglican Communion, to be his deputy.
“The magic of this painstaking process”, argues Chief Handel Okoli, a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who served as President Obasanjo’s Senior Special Assistant, “is not only in Soludo’s thoroughness but also, and more importantly, in the lesson for other candidates in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
“In fact, every gubernatorial or presidential candidate in Nigeria should henceforth follow the example which Professor Soludo, a well-acknowledged pacesetter, has set for us all”.
Chief Ody Chukwube is former Chief Press Secretary to an ex-Anambra State governor.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has revealed why federal government can’t handle Boko Haram and bandits like it handled the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Pidgin, on Friday morning, July 2, the governor said,
People are comparing apples to oranges. Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation. He is identifiable, in constant communication and everyone knows where he is.
“Let’s take Boko Haram for instance. Shekau was in hiding and for the past 10 years and the military had been waging a war to get him. It is not like Shekau was in Saudi Arabia, sitting in one place, tweeting about the break up of Nigeria or asking Boko Haram to go and kill Helen and Nasir el-Rufai.
“Nnamdi Kanu is in one place while Shekau is waging guerrilla warfare. The insurgency is still going on and the Federal Government is not giving up.
“Regarding bandits, they are not centralised under one leadership. Who is the head of the bandits? Who is the equivanlent of Nmandi Kanu with banditry? Bandits are just collections of independent criminals. It is a business for them. It is not a case of Nigeria must break up.
I want to challenge anyone to tell me the central leader of bandits in the same position as Kanu.”
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr Nnamdi Kanu, orchestrated the killing of 60 persons and the destruction of property in 55 attacks across the South East and South South within four months.
The Federal Government stated this in a letter to western diplomats.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the letter dated April 26, 2021 detailed the atrocities committed by members of IPOB on the alleged instruction of Kanu who was then in exile.
NAN also reports that one of the attachments to the letter listed the attacks on lives and property by IPOB in some parts of the country between January and April 2021.
With several Kanu’s broadcasts from Europe, there were concerns in official quarters that some western countries were justifying IPOB’s violent acts under the guise of the group’s pursuit of self-determination.
According to the “demarche” from the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to some western countries, the Federal Government objected to a statement by an agency of a western nation whose government had noted and admitted that the creation of Eastern Security Network (ESN), based on its own understanding, was to combat insecurity.
The Federal Government, in its letter, however considered the statement (by the western nation) as “justifying the establishment of a militia by a non-state actor and glossing over the destructive and violent acts of IPOB and the ESN.”
“In under four months this year, IPOB has carried out over fifty-five (55) violent acts in various parts of Southeast Nigeria killing scores of people and destroying many properties.”
“Indeed it would seem that the position of the (western nation) seems to have further emboldened Nnamdi Kanu the self-confessed leader of IPOB.
“As recently as 22nd April, 2021, broadcasting online from his base in London, Mr Kanu has issued series of instructions to his militia and other members of the outlawed organisation, on acts of violence to be carried out within the territory of Nigeria,” the Federal Government stated in the letter.
The letter made copious references to some of the threats issued by Kanu thus: “Our madness has just begun. Every night, young men will not sleep, you will come out, at the starting of every road that leads to every populated area under human habitation to make sure that appropriate road blocks are put in place to slow them down so we can catch them (Fulanis) and kill them.
“That is what we want you to do. Obiano (Governor of Anambra State) from today onwards, anywhere you are seen in public you will be attacked …. Obiano, … you are a dead man walking.
“Any landlord that gives accommodation or rents his house or her house to a Fulani person, to an army personnel, to somebody who works for the police or DSS … Kill them. If you see the army and the police in your place, kill all of them… Kill them.
“From today I am announcing, there will be no election in Anambra State. Every edifice of election in Anambra State, will be destroyed. I am warning you in advance. There will be no election. There will be no campaign in Anambra State.
“Any vehicle you see, from tonight (22nd April 2021), 12 midnight to 5, destroy it completely. That is the time they (referring to Fulanis) move about abducting people. And we keep quiet. … What stops you young people from, once you see them coming around 4am in the morning, you will block all every exits, set it on fire?”
“They will exhaust all the ammunition that they have, then we capture them alive and cut off their heads. All of them. Decapitate them,” the Federal Government further quoted Kanu’s alleged instructions to IPOB members.
The Federal Government also noted that members of the outlawed organisation, in furtherance to these instructions, intensified their attacks on the specified targets.
According to the Federal Government, Kanu issues instructions from western capitals using Radio Biafra and members of the outlawed organisation carry them out in Nigeria.
“For example, a day after Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has confirmed to newsmen that Nnamdi Kanu has ordered members of the group to kill him and other South-East Governors, which orders were repeated on Radio Biafra, the private residence of Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, in his hometown in Omuma, Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State, was attacked and set ablaze and two of the security men attached to the house were killed,” the Federal Government said.
The letter then listed the IPOB attacks in the South East and South South:
1. Abia: Between January 26 and April 19, 2021, six policemen were killed while property worth huge sums were destroyed by IPOB members in coordinated attacks at Uratta junction, Aba North LGA; Omoba Police Station, Isiale-Ngwa South LGA; Abriba Community in Ohafia LGA, and Uzuakoli Police Station in Bende LGA.
2. Akwa Ibom: 25 persons, including security personnel were killed in deliberate attacks on different locations across the state, between January 27 and April 19, 2021.
3. Cross River: Seven police officers were killed at Calabar-Ikom highway in Obubra and Yakur LGAs, on March 2, 2021, while a soldier was killed two days later on March 4 at a military checkpoint at Obubra Junction in Obubra LGA.
4. Delta: Between January 10 And April 14, IPOB members attacked and killed 11 persons including security personnel in Ughelli, Ndokwa East, Ezza South, Onicha, Ezza North, Ohaozara, Ohoukwu, LGAs.
4. Enugu: Three policemen were killed in attacks on different locations across the state between February 28 and April 18.
5. Imo: Between January 3 and April 24, 2021, IPOB members killed seven persons and injured many others in different attacks in Orlu, Obouo, Aboli Mbaise, Chitte Uboma, Isiala Mbano, Owerri, Njaba, Mbatoli, Oru East LGAs.
6. Rivers: On April 17, 2021, IPOB operatives killed an NSCDC operative on guard duty at Shell crude oil manifold in Elelewon village in Obio/Akpor LGA and injured many others.
The Federal Government also told the diplomats that its position may seem to have further emboldened Kanu, adding that this may explain the increased tempo of attacks carried out by members of his group.
NAN reports that Kanu, who jumped bail in 2017 and fled the country, was arrested and re-arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.
The general public is hereby informed that the interview and news item, circulating on social media platforms and attributed to the Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, on the arrest and extradition of the leader of the Independent People of Biafra(IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kalu is fake.
The interview and news should be disregarded. For the avoidance of doubt, the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment neither granted such an interview nor did his media handlers author any news item on the subject. We hence appeal to the general public, especially Ndi-Igbo to ignore this deliberate falsehood.
In no uncertain terms, we wish to warn the bloggers and social media influencers, who hosted and have been circulating the fake interview and news to pull them down within six hours or face legal action.
An interview which Senator Ngige earlier granted to Channels Television on June 14, 2021 on the developments in the South East is unambiguous and can easily be sourced from the YouTube channel, to clear any confusion between it and the circulating fake interview, which has no credible source.
Similarly, when Senator Ngige met with Ndi-Eze Ndigbo and the Igbo Delegate Assembly in the 19 Northern States on Saturday, June 12, 2021, his speech left no dots for speculations. These leaders of Ndi-Igbo in the North had run to him over distressing developments in their host communities. Ngige acted with dispatch, reaching out to different authorities in the concerned northern states. His intervention did not only calm frayed nerves, it also restored sleep to millions of Igbos living in the North.
It is therefore a despicable act of sabotage against the Igbo for anyone to undermine and churn out articles of mischief out of these noble and patriotic intervention. The style of engagement might differ but Senator Chris Ngige is certainly more Igbo than these mischief makers.
