Dayo Johnson – Akure

Following the rearrest of Nnamdi Kanu, the Pan Yoruba Social-Political Group, Afenifere has said that Nigeria’s security agencies could be highly effective when operating under the right environment uninfluenced by political considerations.

Its Secretary-General, Chief Sola Ebiseni, said this Wednesday when speaking with newsmen in Akure on the re-arrest of the Leader of the Indigenous People’s of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Ebiseni noted that “The arrest of Kanu, even in a foreign land, shows how efficient and effective the Nigerian security services and forces could be when operating under the right environment uninfluenced by political considerations and tribal body languages of the political actors in the illegitimate exercise of the powers granted them by the people.

“However, there is nothing cheering in the arrest against the backdrop of the dubious approach of the Federal Government to fighting crimes and criminality in Nigeria.

“Of course, Nnamdi Kanu is answerable to charges against him, and having now been brought before the court, the mode of effecting his arrest has become a mere academic exercise.

“Nonetheless, as a citizen of Nigeria, he is absolutely entitled to the protection of his fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the constitution and other global norms, including the right of presumption of innocence until proven beyond reasonable doubt by the State.

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“However, such level of enormous energy, resources, and logistics deployed by the government to effect the arrest of Kanu, in whichever locations outside our shores, would not have been required to pick members of the Fulani ethnic militias, masquerading as herdsmen, whose innumerable criminal activities were at the roots of such violent and incendiary activities that have engulfed the nation since the advent of the Buhari administration and in reaction to which self-determination agitations have taken the central stage of our political existence.

“Rather than the Presidential admonition that victims of mass murder and destruction of economic lives should seek peaceful coexistence, in their own ancestral communities, with their invading assailant herdsmen, the Federal Government should not only act but be seen to deploy requisite security measures against herdsmen, kidnappers who have held the Southern and Middle Belt regions hostage for so long and, in recent times, emboldened by government duplicity to have also invaded local farmers and indigenous tribes of the North West.

“It leaves a sour taste in the mouth that the Nigeria military and security forces which used to be the toast of international community in peace keeping exercises and the renowned deterrence force in the West African sub region is now subjected to the insult and ridicule of negotiations with bandits who bear arms in their presence and their negotiator agents given field days on television.”

The group said “The way forward is the restructuring of the political architecture that States have their own Police who understand the terrain and language for necessary intelligence.

They added that “If the South Eastern governments had State Police, maybe there would have been no need for the likes of Kanu and their ethnic outfits being unfortunately popular amongst the people.”

Vanguard News Nigeria