Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has alleged that Fulani supremacists were planning attacks on the two geopolitical regions. Therefore, he called on alerted South East and South-South states governors and their lawmakers to collaborate with IPOB to keeping their communities safe.

In a letter entitled ‘Security of South East and South-South’ and made available to The Guardian yesterday, the IPOB leader stated that “our communities are under siege from alien invaders and killer mercenaries from the Sahel.”

He urged the legislators to collaborate with their governors as a matter of extreme urgency to pass legislations that would engender coordinated security outfits to tackle these menaces.

IPOB, according to him, is committed to assisting in this regard, if called upon to do so. Kanu alleged that even Buhari himself confirmed this when he pointed to foreign Fulani elements as the core culprits in this murderous campaign.

Stressing that their intervention is much more urgent because of the potent political and economic threats to their people’s collective existence, Kanu said: “Though not generally known, the Constitution of Nigeria, by implication, allows us (and any cohesive group of aggrieved Nigerians) to seek self-determination and autonomy as a people.”

According to him, this is specifically provided for under Articles 1 and 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, ratified and dome
sticated by Nigeria in 1983 at CAP A9, Laws of Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

He consequently queried the governors for not taking the expected and appropriate legislative measures to enforce such clear statutory provisions, and the lawmakers for not having the appetite to see what the law says and the people for suffering as a consequence of this inaction.

“For as long as the interest of our people remains paramount in all your official reckoning, IPOB shall remain amenable to consulting with you on the way forward. You must know that Biafran youths will remain unhappy with you unless and until you de-proscribe IPOB,” he added.

Commenting on Kanu’s letter, IPOB’s Special Counsel, Chief Aloy Ejimakor, told The Guardian that the letter was sent to the governors on May 15, 2020, but they never replied.

“This was partly why IPOB went lone-wolf in forming the Eastern Security Network (ESN), only for the same South East governors to be saying that they intend to form a counterpart regional security,” he added.