The Presidency has averred that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is ramping up efforts to have the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) classified as a terrorist organization with immediate effects.
In a statement, Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, made the revelation in a reply to an article in the international magazine The Economist.
Despite repeated appeals for the federal government to classify the bandits in the North as terrorists, the FG is yet to recognize the bandits as terrorists.
The statement partly read, “It is only the Buhari administration that has now sought to intervene against the kidnapping and banditry that has been a simmering threat for far longer. It is only this President’s government which has taken on IPOB, the violent terrorist group which bombs police stations and offices of security agencies, while also threatening those who break their Monday-sit-ins whilst claiming the mantle of forebears who half a century ago fought a civil war. And it is only the Buhari leadership which has sought – ever, in over one 100 years – to identify the root causes of the herder-farmer clashes and find durable solutions.
“In the South East, IPOB – which the Economist rightly describes as ‘delusional’ – the arrest and present trial of the terrorist leader of the group is the beginning of its demise. The President’s administration is redoubling efforts to have IPOB rightfully designated as a terrorist group by our allies outside of Nigeria – an act which will collapse their ability to transact gains from crime and extortion in foreign currencies. It is important to remind the Economist and the global media that this group’s aggression and widespread presence on social media does not reflect their public support, for which they have none: all elected governors, all elected politicians and all elected state assemblies in the South-East – which IPOB claim to be part of their fantasy kingdom – reject them completely.”
Source; NaijaOnPoint.com
