Nnamdi Kanu and Igboho predicaments in the hands of security operatives in the last few days, have been hailed by Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.
The President praised the security forces for the successful arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu and the raid on the residence of the leader of the separatist Yoruba region, Sunday Igboho.
In a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, the president reacting to the case of Nnamdi Kanu and Igboho, said there was a concerted effort by the security forces which had resulted in the arrest of people who had thrown Nigerians into misery.
“The leader of IPOB, a notorious group of assassins and miscreants, has been arrested through a border crossing which has led to his arrest by the Nigerian authorities for prosecution,” the statement said.
The statement also said that the IPOB has carried out about 55 attacks in the South-East which have put citizens in a difficult position.
“There have been at last count, fifty separate violent attacks, heavily concentrated in the South-East, which heaped further hardship on our honest and hardworking citizens, preventing them from earning their livelihood and going about their normal lives.”
Shehu confirmed that the government had been monitoring the activities of IPOB and had strong cause to believe that their funding sources include proceeds of suspected illicit criminal activities.
The president also instructed security forces to raid the house of the man who was leading the separatist movement in southwestern Nigeria.
The statement hailed the raid of the residence of Igboho, “who has also been conducting acts of terror and disturbing the peace under the guise of protecting fellow kinsmen”.
Shehu added that his seditious utterances and antics, publicly expressed, have overtime morphed into very hateful and vile laden speeches.
The government respects the fundamental rights of citizens to express their views and recognizes this as a democratic tenet, he stressed.
“However, any attempt to build an armoury coupled with plans either subtle or expressed to undermine our unity as a nation will not be condoned.
“Mr. President’s directives to Security Services regarding anyone seen to be carrying arms, particularly AK-47 are clear and require no further illumination.
“Assault weapons are not tools of peace loving people and as such, regardless of who they are and where they are from, the Security Agencies should treat them all the same.”
Shehu said the successes of our security agencies must be commended as they have demonstrated significant deftness, guile and secrecy in carrying out these missions.