The rearrest of the fugitive secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu is a clear message of intent from the Muhammadu Buhari administration to anarchists and others bent on waging war against the country.
According to the Buhari Media Organization (BMO), this administration has shown clearly that there will be no hiding place anywhere in the world for trouble makers and other enemies of the nation.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group said that the extradition of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is part of government’s overall efforts to stem the tide of insecurity in parts of the country.
“Like many Nigerians, we were elated to hear the announcement of the arrest of the IPOB leader at a news conference by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami on Tuesday afternoon followed by Kanu’s appearance in court for the continuation of a trial that was stalled after he jumped bail in 2017.
“We also see it as a physical demonstration of President Buhari’s assurance in a recent TV interview that security agencies have been mandated to arrest the slide to anarchy in the South East region.
“We invite Nigerians to note that the President spoke against the backdrop of violent attacks by IPOB’s armed wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN), on police formations and checkpoints that have led to the death of at least 320 security personnel in the last four months.
“The armed group, which the IPOB leader called UGM or unknown gunmen in his social media posts, have also been blamed for arson attacks on at least 40 offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and three correctional facilities during which several inmates were freed.
“Even before Kanu’s rearrest, there had been a noticeable decline in the frequency of attacks by members of the ESN on government facilities and we dare say that it was as a result of the deployment of elite police and military teams to tackle the violent agitators.
“Nigerians should not also lose sight of the fact that officials of the Buhari administration have been engaging in dialogue with political and community leaders from the South East with a view to addressing some of the issues that the proscribed group had been capitalising on to entrench itself in the region”.
BMO also hailed the federal authorities and security agencies for successfully getting the fugitive secessionist arrested without any element of drama or triumphalism after the operation.
“This is one external security operation that caught many Nigerians by surprise, not only because of the secrecy but because of the manner it was executed.
“And though the full details of the operation have not been made public, we see it as a manifestation of the respect that the Buhari administration enjoys in the comity of nations, in spite of the propaganda that IPOB regularly dished out through the now arrested leader and its well-funded lobby groups.
“For us, it shows that the international community is able to decipher the truth from the cocktails of lies about the government and had no reason not to cooperate with Nigeria on the arrest of the fugitive.
“We also acknowledge that the effect of the arrest of the IPOB leader is reverberating in other parts of the country where non-state actors think that they are above the laws of the land.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the military is still actively carrying out sustained air and land raids on identified positions of bandits in some States of northern Nigeria and actively engaging Boko Haram terrorists at the fringes of the Lake Chad where they had been pushed to”.
BMO reassured Nigerians that President Buhari would not allow the security challenges in some parts of the country to overshadow his legacy.