Buhari Disagrees With Igbo Leaders On Nnamdi Kanu, Says Only Court Can Decide His Fate, As UK Insist IPOB Is Not A Terrorist Group

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday disappointed most Igbo Leaders as he declared that the ongoing treason trial of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu would run its full course, clearing doubts about the possibility of government letting him off the hook.

Buhari, responding to latest pleas from South East leaders for the release of the arrow head of the agitation for Biafra, said Kanu’s matter should be allowed to be properly adjudicated in court.

He spoke at a meeting with the leadership of the pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze, and other eminent South Easterners in Abakaliki on the second day of his visit to Ebonyi State.

Unknown gunmen, apparently disappointed that Buhari made the trip in spite of the sit-at-home protest ordered by some groups, took out their anger on a motorist and a motorcyclist in the Ebonyi State capital: the vehicles were set ablaze.

However, two armed bandits suspected to be members of the proscribed IPOB and its affiliate Eastern Security Network (ESN), were killed on Tuesday in an encounter with the police at Agwa in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.

“I have listened carefully to the various appeals from the elders to the traditional leaders regarding a wide range of options, and as I have said previously, this matter remains in the full purview of the courts where it will be properly adjudicated,” he said.

Buhari, referencing the violence in the South East sparked by the Biafran/Kanu issue, added: “I must register my deep and grave concern with regards to the deteriorating state of affairs in this region.

“In the last 48 hours, I have been informed of the latest in the round of brutal actions carried out by gun wielding terrorists who prey on innocent and hardworking citizens.

“Unfortunately this barbaric act was visited on those who have committed their lives to protecting the lives of fellow citizens.

“Terrorists who have unfortunately brainwashed a segment of the population that continued to contribute their hard earned funds towards their hate filled messages but now have been terrorised through their brutal killings, truncation of commercial activities, restriction of freedom of movement, and the ability to exercise basic human rights must be fished out from amongst us, and it can only be done through the support of the people.

“My worry is for our hardworking and innocent civilians for whom life is already tough and would like to go out and wean a good and honest living. There are many that fit this profile and the government owes them that obligation to protect their lives and property.

“I will once again repeat, no one has the right to carry an AK-47, and anyone in any part of the country doing so and is not a law enforcement officer is a threat to our peaceful coexistence and should be treated as such.”

Speaker after speaker at the meeting had pleaded with Buhari to grant amnesty to Kanu and other youths from the region in detention.

They included Chairman, Southeast Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Charles Mkpumai; Southeast Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev Fr Abraham Nwali; Ohanaézè Ndígbo President-General George Obiozor; and First Republic Minister, Mbazulike Amaechi.

Eze Mkpuma asked for Buhari’s support for the agitation for his successor coming from the South East, saying: “We plead with you Mr. President to grant the plea for the South East to produce the next President of the country in 2023.

“We stand by you in all efforts towards the fight against insecurity in the South East and the country in general. We however plead with you as a compassionate father to temper justice with mercy in the case of our son, Nnamdi Kanu.

“We have started dialogue to ensure that all those who feel aggrieved are brought to round table discussion. We shall continue to support you and your administration. Do not listen to those advocating for interim government for they are inviting anarchy.

“We urge you to look inwards and build the rest administration around the South Easterner who has outstanding performance,” they said.

Mbazulike Amaechi said: “I want to see peace in this country before I join my ancestors.

“I want to see peace in the South East, particularly where there is upsurge of crisis and something that will lead to that peace is around the corner and we are asking you to give me the mandate and I will give you peace.

“I guarantee you this, Mr. President.

“We say in Igbo land that a mad man is owned by his people. If somebody was mad yesterday, and on guarantee of elders like me and other elders, I will bring him out and that is to get peace.

“Help us to get the peace and I will give you peace in this part of this country and also in Nigeria because I am a Nigerian, I took part in the struggle for the independence of this country,” he added.

Rev. Fr. Abraham Nwali said: “As a body that is of genuine counsel, our country is currently challenged greatly by insecurity and societal conflict here and there with high level of poverty.

“A great number of our families are living in the fear of the unknown.

“As a father of our dear nation and South East, we bring to your notice that the sit-at-home has crippled the economy of South East and banditry is engulfing the nation.

“Our society is growing by violence with a lot of youth restiveness. We know that you are doing your best to solve these problems but we request kindly your Excellency of more dialogue with all nationalists and more empowerment to the various security agencies to tackle this monster called insecurity.

“We request that you exercise the promotion of equity, fairness and social justice by all institutions and political parties, especially as we approach the year of transition.

“We plead for your political solution as a father, a loving father, a forgiving father to grant Nnamdi Kanu freedom.

“We pray that he be granted pardon as we call on all agitators to cease all forms of hostilities and other demands for a nation where the plight of the poor, the weak, the oppressed will be addressed.

“History shall be kind to you and you will have the greatest ovation in the world if your administration can do that which all think will not be possible to assist for the emergence of President of Nigeria of South East extraction come 2023.

“It was done in South West in 1999 and NADECO and other agitating groups ceased all hostilities. Agitations in the South East will likewise disappear if you grant us that unique privilege.”

Ohanaézè President-General, George Obiozor, represented by the organisation’s Deputy Legal Adviser, Peter Alike, called for amnesty for all Igbo youths currently in detention facilities across the country.

Ebonyi Governor David Umahi said Buhari would be remembered as a man who did not use the plight of the people of the South East to play politics but came to their rescue several times.

The governor urged Southern leaders to work towards finding a political solution in resolving some challenging issues, warning that the region is at a ”crossroads.”

He said: “On this issue of a political solution, I have never believed in IPOB’s method of operation. I disagree with them. But we have gotten ourselves to a very terrible and pitiable solution.

”Some of us warned that we would get to this situation and some were playing politics with it.

“Mr. President, we are at a crossroads. I have been to you and I have begged you for a political solution. Surprisingly and graciously, you granted that. You said our people should initiate that and at the forefront is Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer.

The governor, therefore, urged the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to meet with elder statesman, Mbazuluike Amaechi, the Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), South-East, the Chairman of South-East Traditional Rulers Council, Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer and few others to initiate the political solution.

On the 2023 elections, the governor said he believed strongly in the demand for the presidency to be zoned to the South East region on the basis of fairness, equity, justice and morality.

He said Dr Ogbonnay Onu, the current Minister of Science and Technology, in 1999 stepped down for a presidential candidate from the South West, adding the it was now time for other regions to extend same gesture to the South East.

Gunmen set vehicles ablaze in Ebonyi
Earlier in the day, unknown gunmen set two vehicles ablaze at Ebebe Junction in Abakaliki after intercepting the vehicles.

The hoodlums were believed to be enforcing the two-day sit-at-home allegedly declared by yet to be identified dissident groups in the region to protest Buhari’s visit.

A motorcyclist narrowly escaped being killed.

A resident of the area who spoke on grounds of anonymity said the bandits shot several gunshots to scare the people.

A witness said: “I was inside my shop because I slept there. I heard the gunshots but I discovered later that they left a vehicle burnt beyond recognition while a motorcycle operator told us that he narrowly escaped their bullets.

“It’s so unfortunate that we witnessed such an ugly incident in this area that is usually very peaceful and sprawling with business activities especially at evening periods,” he said.

A team of policemen and the Ebubeagu Security Outfit later arrived and cordoned off the area.

Police spokesperson, Loveth Odah, said she was not aware of the incident.

“I’m just getting the information from you; I’m not aware of the attack,” Odah said.

Insecurity has been on the rise in the South East over the last few months following the resumption of Kanu’s trial for alleged treason.

The region has seen increased security deterioration since the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, Leader of a pro-separatist group in the area.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the group he leads, has been blamed by the Police for series of attacks on security agencies and officials, government facilities and high profile individuals.

The group has continued to deny responsibility for the said attacks.

Police officer, two suspected IPOB/ESN members killed in Imo gun duel
Two armed hoodlums suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its affiliate Eastern Security Network (ESN) were killed on Tuesday in a gun duel with the police at Agwa in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.

The suspects, according to eyewitnesses, had emerged from surrounding bushes and opened fire on a team of policemen who were on patrol duty in the area.

A police officer was felled in the process.

The police responded immediately, taking out two of the bandits.

Spokesman of the State Police Command, Michael Abattam, said the incident occurred on May 3 at about 4.05pm.

He said: “On 3/05/2022 at about 1605hrs, while policemen attached to Agwa Divisional Headquarters were conducting stop and search duty, armed bandits suspected to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network (ESN) in their numbers emerged from the surrounding bushes, shooting sporadically at the policemen who swiftly took cover and responded, engaging them in a fierce gun duel.”

He said that the Command’s tactical teams stationed in the area, on receipt of the distress call, rushed to the scene and engaged the hoodlums in a fire fight.

“For the operatives’ superior firepower and number, they were able to neutralize two of the hoodlums while others fled in disarray with bullets wounds into the bush.”

He said that the police operatives tactically chased the hoodlums and in the process of combing the bush for possible recovery of their arms, arrested the fleeing suspects.

He disclosed that during the attack, one of the police officer’s gallantly paid the supreme price while others were treated and discharged from the hospital for minor injuries they sustained.

“The corpses of the hoodlums were later deposited at Federal Medical Centre Mortuary while investigation is ongoing.

Items recovered at the scene include two locally made double barrel guns with seven lives cartridges and ten (10) expended cartridges.

The United Kingdom on Thursday announced the exclusion of IPOB members and some other secessionists from seeking asylum in the country.

The UK authorities said the decision was on account of the recent activities of such people as reported in Nigeria.

It said: “”IPOB is proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government, and members of the group and its paramilitary wing – the Eastern Security Network (created in December 2020) – have reportedly committed human rights violations in Nigeria.

“MASSOB has been banned but is not a proscribed terrorist group in Nigeria. It too has reportedly been involved in violent clashes with the authorities.

“If a person has been involved with IPOB (and/or an affiliated group), MASSOB or any other ‘Biafran’ group that incites or uses violence to achieve its aims, decision-makers must consider whether one (or more) of the exclusion clauses under the Refugee Convention is applicable. Persons who commit human rights violations must not be granted asylum.

“MASSOB, since its formation in the late 1990s, has clashed with the security forces. Some sources report that numerous individuals have been killed, wounded, and arrested during these clashes – usually during demonstrations.

“Through its online platform, ‘Radio Biafra’, and other social media, IPOB has increasingly used inflammatory rhetoric to encourage secessionist aspirations and resistance to the authorities, including violence.

“Sources reported that the security forces have arrested hundreds of IPOB supporters at different events, particularly between 2015 and 2017 and including during raids on homes of IPOB leaders. Since 2015, IPOB has also claimed that the security forces have used excessive force, including killing and injuring hundreds of its supporters.”

Confiscate funders’ assets, shut Radio Biafra, Presidency tells UK
Following its decision to proscribe and re-designate IPOB as a terrorist organisation, the United Kingdom (UK) has been urged to take the next step by confiscating assets belonging to the group’s international network of funders.

The Presidency, which gave the charge in a statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, yesterday also tasked the UK to make the re-designation of the group more potent by shutting down its communication outlets, especially the London-based Biafra Radio.

The Unite Kingdom Visas and Immigration (UKVI), a division of the British Home Office, on its website three days ago, announced the re-designation of IPOB as a terrorist organisation, in an updated guideline to its decision makers.

Reacting to the new decision, the Nigerian government, through the Presidency, welcomed the fact that though it took time in coming, the UK decision would help to tackle the scourge of terrorism in the country.

The statement reads: “Nigeria welcomes the decision by the United Kingdom to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group.

“The violent secessionist organisation has long been proscribed as such in Nigeria where it carries out the majority of its murderous activities.

“It has taken our allies in the U.K. so long to follow suit owing to two reasons: first, the deep pockets of IPOB’s international network of funders that allow for lawyers and influence peddlers to aggressively lobby for and whitewash the activities of their client in Western courts; and second, IPOB’s influential communication network of TV and radio stations – including London-based Radio Biafra – employed with great effect to spread misinformation abroad and incite violence at home.

“The next steps are clear: now that IPOB has rightly been designated a terrorist group, the UK authorities should, in our view, follow up with confiscation of their assets, shut down their communication channels and sanction the issuance of visas to IPOB’s funders in Nigeria.

“Such sanctions have played a critical role in combating other terror groups. And make no mistake: today Africa is a breeding ground for terror with local and international groups alike gaining strength across the continent, thriving on the economic devastation of the pandemic.

“Nigeria’s intelligence and security forces are the first lines of defence against such groups, including ISIS and Al Quaeda affiliated Boko Haram. We rely on our allies in the West for their support.

“IPOB’s – and its 50,000 strong paramilitary unit’s – reign of terror has seen villagers butchered, school buses set alight and politicians’ homes bombed. Through their international network of radio and TV stations, they threaten further violence if their demands are not met, while inciting violence and religious and ethnic tension between Nigeria’s Christian and Muslim populations.

“Their mouthpieces and their wallets are their most effective tools – it is these assets Nigeria’s allies must target next. And there is no time for complacency.”

While it thanked the UK government for taking the decision, it called on other international allies of the country, especially the United States (US), to tow the British line and help in putting out the gradual incubation of global terrorism on African soil

“We thank the U.K. for its decisive action and call on our friends in the U.S. to at last heed our calls and follow suit in designating this murderous terror group as what it is.

“Across Africa, increasingly what were once small localised groups are growing in size and influence and becoming connected to global networks of terror.

“The free and democratic world must act now to stomp them out before any more misery is caused,” it said.

IPOB not on list of terrorist group, says UK
In another statement issued yesterday, however, the United Kingdom clarified that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not a proscribed organisation in the European country.

The British government described the reports in some sections of the media (not The Nation) as “inaccurate reporting”.

Several media reports had said the United Kingdom barred the Indigenous People of Biafra, the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra and other Biafran groups from participating in its asylum programme.

But a statement released by the British High Commission Abuja yesterday said: “We are aware of inaccurate reporting circulating in the media and online that the UK Government has added the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the UK’s list of terrorist groups or organisations banned under UK law. These reports are untrue. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not a proscribed organisation in the UK.

“The inaccurate reporting relates to the 13 April 2022 publication by the UK Government of a revised Country Policy and Information note (CPIN) on separatist groups in SE Nigeria, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). CPINs provide country of origin information (COl) and analysis of COI for use by UK Government decision-makers handling particular types of protection and human rights claims.

“All asylum and human rights claims made in the UK are considered on their individual facts in accordance with our obligations under the UN Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights, taking into account relevant background country information and case law.

“The CPIN on separatist groups in the South East, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), provides a general assessment of risks faced by individuals belonging to those groups. These assessments are based on an analysis of publicly available country information obtained from a wide range of reliable sources including media outlets; UK and other governments; local, national and international organisations; and non-government organisations.

“This CPIN also acknowledges that the Nigerian government has proscribed IPOB as a terrorist organisation, some members of IPOB have reportedly used violence against the state and members of the public, and advises that persons who have committed human rights abuses must not be granted protection.

“The document is publicly available on our UK Government website, Gov.UK at www.gov.uk/government/publications/nigeria-country-policy-and-information-notes.”