He made the pledge on Friday when he received the delegation led by a First Republic parliamentarian and former Minister of Aviation, Mbazulike Amaechi, at the State House in Abuja.

“You’ve made an extremely difficult demand on me as leader of this country,” the President was quoted as saying in a statement by his media adviser, Femi Adesina. “The implication of your request is very serious.

“In the last six years, since I became President, nobody would say I have confronted or interfered in the work of the Judiciary. God has spared you, and given you a clear head at this age, with very sharp memory. A lot of people half your age are confused already.”

An unconditional release of Kanu who is the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and currently standing trial, according to the President, runs contrary to the doctrine of separation of powers between the Executive and Judiciary.

Stressing his policy of non-interference with the Judiciary, he said when Kanu jumped bail, got arrested and was brought back to the country, “I said the best thing was to subject him to the system.

“Let him make his case in court, instead of giving very negative impressions of the country from outside. I feel it’s even a favour to give him that opportunity.”

The President condoled with Amaechi who recently buried his wife and prayed that her soul would rest in peace.

In his remarks, Amaechi had described the situation in the South East as “painful and pathetic,” lamenting that businesses have collapsed, education was crumbling, fear has begun to manifest everywhere.

He pleaded for a political, rather than military solution, requesting that if Kanu was released to him as the only First Republic Minister alive, “he (Kanu) would no longer say the things he had been saying.”

The former minister promised to control Kanu, “not because I have anything to do with them (IPOB), but I am highly respected in Igbo land today.”

He stated that he had interfaced with Nnamdi Kanu in the past twice, and the latter rescinded orders earlier given on civil disobedience.

“I don’t want to leave this planet without peace returning to my country. I believe in one big, united Nigeria, a force in Africa. Mr President, I want you to be remembered as a person who saw Nigeria burning, and you quenched the fire,” Amaechi told his host.

Other people in the visiting delegation were former Anambra State Governor, Chukwuemeka Ezeife; Bishop Sunday Onuoha of the Methodist Church, former President of Igbo socio-cultural group, Aka Ikenga, Goddy Uwazurike; and Mr Tagbo Amaechi.

Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, made the allegation at a news briefing in Abuja on Friday.

He alleged that Kanu also used the online station to incite members of the group to commit violent attacks against civil and democratic institutions across the country, especially in the South East.

According to Malami, such assaults include attacks on security personnel, police stations, security formations, and the destruction of properties of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and private citizens.

He said 175 security operatives – 128 policemen, 37 military personnel, and 10 other security operatives – were killed in the attacks.

The AGF also blamed members of IPOB and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) for Tuesday’s attack on traditional rulers who were having a meeting in Imo. Two traditional rulers were killed in that attack.

He added that Kanu also played a role in the violence recorded during the EndSARS protests in 2020.

“The EndSARS protests of October 2020 played into the sinister plans of Nnamdi Kanu, whereby he seized the protests through subversive and inciting online broadcasts and actively commanded and directed attacks on security personnel and facilities,” Malami said.

“As a result of these broadcasts, members of IPOB attacked and killed security personnel and burnt down Police stations, Correctional centres, INEC offices, bus terminals, the Palace of Oba of Lagos, Banks, hospitals, shopping malls and vehicles, amongst others.”

Malami stated that during the attacks, 19 offices, 18 logistical vehicles, several election materials, equipment and ICT gadgets belonging to INEC were destroyed in Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Imo States.

He added that 164 police stations and formations, including the Police Headquarters in Owerri, Imo State, were attacked by IPOB/ESN members.

Malami told journalists at the briefing that a Presidential Ad-hoc Committee, comprising twenty-four members, which he heads found links between Kanu and the attacks during its investigations into his activities.

Read the full text of the AGF’s press briefing below:

Text of press conference on Friday 22nd October 2021 by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN, on investigation reports on acts of terrorism and allied offences perpetrated by Nnamdi Kanu and report on the sponsors and financiers of Sunday Igboho and associates

Protocol

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, I welcome you to this very important press conference.

As you are aware Nnamdi Kanu, the self-acclaimed leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been at the centre of a subversive campaign against the Nigerian State. Consequently, Nnamdi Kanu was arrested on 14th October 2015. He was charged to court for treasonable felony, among other crimes. He was granted bail by the Federal High Court, Abuja on 25th April 2017. He, however, breached the bail conditions and fled abroad.

While in self-exile, Nnamdi Kanu intensified his subversive campaign, using online Radio Biafra to instigate violence and incite members of IPOB to commit violent attacks against civil and democratic institutions, particularly the security personnel, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and civilians. He instigated the destruction of public and private properties across the country.

As a result of these criminal activities, IPOB was proscribed and designated a terrorist organisation by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, in an order made on 20th September 2017.

Despite the proscription of IPOB by the Federal Government, Nnamdi Kanu continued the subversive campaign, instigating and inciting broadcasts to direct members of the IPOB to launch attacks on the government.

The EndSARS protests of October 2020 played into the sinister plans of Nnamdi Kanu, whereby he seized the protests through subversive and inciting online broadcasts and actively commanded and directed attacks on security personnel and facilities.

As a result of these broadcasts, members of IPOB attacked and killed security personnel and burnt down Police stations, Correctional centres, INEC offices, bus terminals, the Palace of Oba of Lagos, Banks, hospitals, shopping malls and vehicles, amongst others.

On 12th December 2020, Eastern Security Network” (ESN) was formed by Nnamdi Kanu as an armed wing of IPOB with the mandate to advance the nefarious agenda of the outlawed group. ESN continued to launch attacks on security personnel, civilians perceived as enemies as well as the destruction of private and public properties.

The destructive activities of IPOB/ESN pose a serious threat to Nigeria’s national security and its corporate existence, which resulted in the re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu and members of his group.

The eventual re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu in June 2021, and some members of his group led to the inauguration of a Presidential Ad-hoc Committee, comprising twenty-four (24) members drawn from:

Federal Ministry of Justice (MoJ),

Federal Ministry of Information (MoI),

Nigeria Police Force (NPF),

Department of State Services (DSS),

National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and

Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA),

The Committee, inaugurated by the President, and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), was headed by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

The Committee finds as a fact, that consequent upon the instigating directives of Nnamdi Kanu, members of IPOB/ESN carried out massive attacks on democratic institutions especially INEC Facilities with a view to hampering the democratic process in Nigeria. These attacks that were carried out between October 2020 and June 2021 include the following:

That acting on the instigating directives of Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB members and #EndSARS protesters attacked and killed many security agents, destroyed several public and private properties, including police stations, public transport buses and other facilities across the country.

That on 21st October 2020, Nnamdi Kanu through an online call-in radio programme (Radio Biafra), further instigated IPOB members to burn down all police stations and kill government security forces, which was carried out and several security personnel (especially police officers) were killed, and public and private properties destroyed.

One hundred and seventy-five (175) security personnel were killed by IPOB/ESN, comprising one hundred and twenty-eight (128) policemen, thirty-seven (37) military personnel and ten (10) other security operatives;

The killing of prominent Nigerians, (recently there were gruesome killings of traditional leaders: Obi 1 of Okwudor autonomous community, Eze E. Anayochukwu Durueburuo and Eze Sampson Osunwa of Ihebineowerre autonomous community as well as the killings of Dr Chike Akunyili and eight others as well as the killing of  Alhaji Ahmed Gulak on 30th May. 2021);

That as a consequence of Nnamdi Kanu’s broadcasts, there were nineteen (19) attacks on INEC facilities that resulted in the destruction of offices as well as burning of eighteen (18) INEC logistical vehicles, several election materials, equipment and ICT gadgets in Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo States;

That one hundred and sixty-four (164) police stations and formations, including Police Headquarters, Owerri, Imo State were attacked by IPOB/ESN leading to the death of one hundred and twenty-eight (128) policemen {as stated in III above}; one hundred forty-four (144) injured while six hundred twenty-eight (628) vehicles were destroyed.

That three hundred and ninety-six (396) firearms and seventeen thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight (17,738) ammunition were carted away during the IPOB/ESN attacks;

That there were three (3) IPOB/ESN attacks on Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), including the Headquarters of NCoS, Owerri, Imo State where one thousand eight hundred and forty-one (1,841) inmates escaped;

That the Headquarters of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Umuahia, Abia State was also attacked by IPOB/ESN leading to the death of one (1) officer;

That there were several IPOB/ESN attacks and destruction (arson) of public and private properties during the EndSARS and Biafra agitations across the country, especially in the South-East and South-South regions, notably the Palace of the Oba of Lagos where twelve (12) flats were completely looted and vandalized, the country home of the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, was burnt, over one hundred and fifty (150) buses burnt at the Lagos Bus Terminal, Sen. Ndoma Egba’s home in Calabar Municipal, Cross River State, was completely looted and vandalized, Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre, City Hall Race Course, First Bank Branch Lagos, Lagos State Public Works Commission, Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), Marina, Lagos, High Court Igbosere, Lagos, were all burnt, amongst other heinous crimes committed.

We have also established that Kanu is not alone in his subversive activities.  He has accomplices in Nigeria and abroad, individuals and groups as well as state and non-state actors who are aiding and facilitating his campaign against the people and state of Nigeria.  Some of the state actors aided KANU, even as a fugitive, in his destructive mission, ignoring the terrorist nature of his activities.

We call on these countries to desist from aiding subversive acts by Kanu and IPOB against the state of Nigeria and its people. Conversely, there are some friendly countries that, recognising the status of IPOB as a terrorist organisation, have either banned the activities of IPOB or placed KANU on Stop List.  To these peace-loving countries that have put Kanu on their Stop Lists and banned IPOB from operating in their territories, we express our appreciation.

Similarly, the Federal Government has received the report on financers of Adeniyi Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Sunday Igboho. The report revealed that Sunday Igboho is a Director and signatory to Adesun International Concept Limited registered on 23rd April 2010. Adesun International Concept Limited also has Oladele Oyetunji and Aderopo Adeyemo as Directors. Sunday Igboho is linked to 43 bank accounts in 9 banks.

The major financier of the fugitive and separatists was found to be a Federal lawmaker in the National Assembly. A total sum of one hundred and twenty-seven million, one and forty-five thousand naira ONLY (N127, 145,000.00) was received by Igboho from his financiers between 22nd October 2013 and 28th September 2020 through Adesun International Concept Ltd accounts.

A total sum of two hundred and seventy-three million, one hundred and ninety-eight thousand, two hundred naira only (N273,198,200.00) transaction outflows were recorded from Sunday Igboho’s account between 15th March 2013 and 11 March 2021.

Investigation reveals that Adesun International Concept Ltd (belonging to Igboho) transferred the sum of twelve million seven hundred and fifty thousand naira (N12, 750,000) to Abbal Bako & Sons.

It might be recalled that Abbal Bako & Sons and its promoter Abdullahi Umar Usman are suspects in the ongoing joint terrorist financing investigation. Abdullahi Umar Usman is by way of financial transaction connected to Surajo Abubakar Muhammad (who was sentenced to life imprisonment in UAE on charges of financing terrorism [Boko Haram]).

This report shows the nexus between separatists’ agitation, terrorism financing, and disruptions of peace in the country.

The report found connections of financial transactions between Adesun International Concept Ltd (belonging to Igboho) and some construction companies and businesses among others.

Having received the reports, the Federal Government remains solute in its determination to have a peaceful Nigeria. The Federal Government will do the needful, within the context of the legal provisions, in ensuring that the matter is given the deserved attention and those found guilty will be made to face the wrath of the law.

I thank you most sincerely.

Abubakar Malami, SAN

Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice

Umahi, who is also the Governor of Ebonyi State, said this when he appeared on Channels TV’s breakfast show Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.

The governor was speaking about the security situation in the South-East, the activities of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other issues, a day after governors of the region announced that a security outfit “Ebube Agu” will be established in the five states that make up the region before the end of the year.

“At the initial time, it was an issue of ‘look, we are being marginalised. A lot of people keyed into that,” Governor Umahi said of the initial agitations in the region.

“Then, along the line, it developed into violence. And then later, the same agitation has been hijacked by criminals, bandits and kidnappers.”

Taking Advantage

The Governor explained that the grievances of people in the region over the years had led to support for IPOB, which had said it was fighting against the marginalisation of the region.“A lot of people keyed in,” he said.

“If anybody had grievances with the centre (Federal Government), the person became a supporter of IPOB. If you sort anything at the federal level and you fail to get it, you become a supporter of IPOB.

Those in the diaspora that went for greener pastures and they failed to get such become very bitter with the Nigerian society. And so, followers kept growing.”

According to the governor, the situation worsened when the conflicts with herdsmen came up.

“They were a couple of killings in the South-East and the people were a bit helpless and felt the governors were not protecting them,” he said, adding that though the governors did a lot to ensure that there was peace between the herders and people, residents were not satisfied.

“You see, some uninformed elements felt that the only way to solve the problem between us and herdsmen was to ask them to leave the South-East.”

The preferred option for these elements, he explained, was not nationalistic because people from the South-East also live in the north.

“Then came the IPOB with ESN (Eastern Security Network), which is the militant aspect of IPOB, and they started to issue orders of threats,” the governor said.

So, along the line, the whole exercise has been hijacked. In the South-East, we no longer have kidnappers; everyone that commits one criminal act or the other claims to be IPOB.”

Governor Umahi accused some politicians, who he did not name, of capitalising on the situation.

These politicians, he said, “began to import killers from outside the South-East to advance their political interests”.

The governor, however, stressed that the people were beginning to understand the situation and support for IPOB is declining due to the actions of the group and the level of violence in the region.

He added that once the issues of leadership and development that led to cries of marginalisation were addressed to complement efforts being made by the governors to tackle the situation, security will improve in the region.

‘Biafra Is Madness’

According to the governor, it is the failure of the Federal Government to treat the region equally that has led to agitations and calls for secessionist state, Biafra.

“This idea of Biafra, Biafra is madness,” he said, adding that most elites in the south east do not want Biafra.

“We don’t want Biafra. We only want to be treated equally like other regions in Nigeria,” Governor Umahi stressed.

Speaking of the sit-at-home order, which he says is mostly issued by people in diaspora, the governor lamented that the south-east people are complying only out of fear and not because they want to be obedient.

“If we had a policeman to everybody, nobody is going to obey any sit at home,” he said.

He, therefore, promised that governors from the region will continue doing what they can to safeguard the people because “we cannot have Biafra by the way they are going about it”.

He, however, did not reveal the identity of the lawmaker, neither did he say if the individual is a member of the House of Representatives or Senate.

“The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals,” the President said in his broadcast to the nation to commemorate Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary.

“We are vigorously pursuing these financiers, including one identified as a serving member of the National Assembly.

While Kanu is the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Adeyemo – who is popularly known as Sunday Igboho, is a Yoruba nation agitator.

Both men had fled the country following raids on their homes by security operatives and prosecution by the government.

Kanu was arrested and brought back to the country in June, four years after he fled the country following what he said was an invasion of his residence in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

Igboho, on the other hand, fled to neighbouring Benin Republic in July after his house in Ibadan, Oyo State was raided.

He was subsequently arrested by Benin authorities en route to Germany, and an extradition battle is ongoing to determine his fate.

ChannelsTV

The President-General of Ohanaeza Ndigbo, Prof George Obiozor, on the occasion of the annual celebration of Igbo Day, appealed for a return to normalcy in Igboland.

According to him, IPOB leaders should take note of the danger violence has posed in Igboland, adding that the South-East geopolitical zone “must avoid being a race that has voluntarily chosen to perish in violence and insecurity”.

He said what is happening in Igboland today — Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi States — is not liberation but destruction and devastation.

Obiozor stated this in a statement titled, ‘Stop Anarchy In Igbo Land, Go For Dialogue’, made available to The PUNCH by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Alex Ogbonnia.

Obiozor said, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, traditional rulers and stakeholders call for an end towards anarchy in Igbo land.

“Our youths particularly the leaders of IPOB, should take notice of the danger violence has posed in Igbo land,” he said, adding that Ndigbo “must avoid being a race that has voluntarily chosen to perish in violence and insecurity, and we must stop threatening ourselves and there must be a stop to violence and violence rhetoric. Something other than the initial objectives of IPOB is taking place and it is dangerous.”

The PUNCH

Gunmen have killed a police inspector in southeast Nigeria on Monday, the latest attack in the restive region where dozens of officers have died this year.

The gunmen ambushed a police patrol in the commercial town of Onitsha in Anambra state and opened fire, state police spokesman Ikenga Tochukwu said in a statement.

“The attackers drove in a Sienna vehicle… and started shooting at the patrol vehicle along Ukegbu junction,” he said.

“Unfortunately, during the exchange of gunfire, one police inspector paid the supreme price.”

Other officers were wounded in the attack, he said.

It is said that no group has claimed responsibility for recent attacks, but police often blame the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a proscribed separatist group demanding an independent state for the ethnic Igbo people.

IPOB denies its armed wing, Eastern Security Network, is involved in the attacks, but separatist agitation is on the rise in southeast and southwest Nigeria.

Tochukwu said that “in a bid to escape the police responding team, the hoodlums set the patrol vehicle ablaze.”

In nearby Enugu state, gunmen also attacked an electoral office and set parts of the building on fire.

Officials however said the blaze was put out before vital election materials and equipment could be damaged.

Dozens of police officers and other security personnel have been killed since the beginning of the year in targeted attacks in the southeast.

Prisons have also been raided with scores of inmates freed and weapons carted away.

IPOB’s leader Nnamdi Kanu is in government custody since he was arrested abroad in June and brought back to Nigeria to face treason charges.

Separatist activism is especially sensitive in southeast Nigeria, where a declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra by Igbo army officers 50 years ago sparked a civil war that left more than one million people dead.

Hon Gbajabiamila in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Lanre Lasisi, however, restated the Speaker’s displeasure against the emergence of a band of miscreants and criminals in the country.

“It has come to the attention of the Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives, that some media reports on Wednesday, September 15, claimed that the Speaker, in his welcome address to his colleagues at Wednesday’s plenary, purportedly said IPOB and Yoruba nation agitators are the same with Boko haram.

“In view of the impression created by the said reports, it has become necessary to clarify that the Speaker, in his speech, never mentioned any group.

“For the records, the Speaker said some miscreants and criminals are taking advantage of the separationist agitations to carry their activities.

“Hereunder is what the Speaker said: ‘We must now add to these concerns an emerging threat that presents the same clear and present danger. In the South of Nigeria, East and West, MISCREANTS AND CRIMINALS MASQUERADING AS SEPARATIONIST ACTIVISTS have emerged to wreak havoc, take lives and commit economic sabotage against fellow Nigerians and the state.

“These people, in their inclination for devastating violence against fellow citizens, their appetite for the destruction of private property, their disruption of academic activities, commerce, and industry, their propensity for defiling institutions of the state, society and community, their refusal to engage in debate, or to consider the possibility of dissenting opinions and alternative viewpoints, are no different from Boko Haram and ISWAP. Given space and time, they will take our nation down the same path of destruction.”

“From the above, there was nowhere that the Speaker mentioned the name of any group. What was conspicuous in the Speaker’s speech was the focus of the activities of MISCREANTS AND CRIMINALS, and its effect on the country.

“The Speaker never condemned secessionists or compared them to terrorists.

“As a matter of fact, the Speaker is not alone on the concern about an apparent emergence of a band of miscreants and criminals as different patriotic Nigerians have expressed similar concerns and even condemned the act of maiming, killing, destruction of property and other criminalities perpetrated by the masqueraders,” Mr. Lasisi said in the statement.

Source: Nigerian Tribune

Our correspondent in the Diocese of Orlu reported that Rev Chukwuemeka Mmerenu was at the early hours of Tuesday, 14th September 2021 murdered in cold blood right inside the parsonage of Church of Redemption, Okuru in Orsu L. G. A. Imo State. His Vehicle parked in the Church Compound was also burnt down.

Rev. Emeka, who was a Citizen of Nkwerre and doubled as both the Resident Priest of Anglican Church of Redemption, Okuru and Principal of Trinity Secondary School, Orsuihiteukwa in Orsu Local Government Area and of Anglican Diocese of Orlu was alleged to have been killed by members of the ESN (Eastern Security Network) following unclear insinuations that he had a parley with men of the Nigerian Army.

Close source had it that the hoodlums suspected to be ESN had seized his phone the previous day being Monday when he went to bring the WAEC Supervisor assigned to his School so his students could write the English language scheduled for the day. It was said that the military also stormed and searched the school premises during the examination same day after a very prolonged gun-battle with men of the ESN.

A senior member of the church in Orlu Anglican diocese who preferred to be anonymous confirmed the incident to our correspondent. The priest’s car was set ablaze by purported members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), who sprayed bullets in the air, as they sped away.

He told our correspondent that the diocese had been thrown into a morning mood.

The police spokesperson in the state, Micheal Abattam, confirmed the murder incident and added that investigation had commenced with the intention of arresting the perpetrators of this barbaric act.

Efforts by ACNN to reach the Diocesan as at the time of this report is yet to be positive as he isn’t picking up his call nor responded to text message.