Buhari Hails Operations Against Nnamdi Kanu, Sunday Igboho

President Muhammadu Buhari praised the security agencies’ cooperation in the operations against Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho.

Garba Shehu, his spokesman, said they carried out the operation in perfect time with the arrests of people who had caused agony and suffering to their fellow countrymen.

Kanu and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leaders are known for violent deeds and toxic messaging, according to Shehu.

He acknowledged that Kanu was handed up to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and then repatriated after the “international operation” against him.

According to the aid, IPOB-inspired violence has resulted in hundreds of deaths, with a focus on government assets and law enforcement agents.

“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 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 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.