By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Activists have risen valiantly to tell Muhammadu Buhari that he cannot detain Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho while protecting and appeasing his fellow Fulani who murder citizens in the North, a jihadist war zone where no one is safe.
“Buhari is clearly more concerned and acting very swiftly about those clamouring for secession than he is about insecurity and poverty in the country,” @ikennakris wrote on Twitter, a platform the President has banned.
Buhari banned Twitter on June 4 to block freedom of speech in a free country where agitators expose his Fulani supremacist agenda. The ban is ignored, anyway, as Nigerians still use Twitter through Virtual Private Network (VPN).
“The resource and intelligence the FG have, If they channel it into insurgency, Bandits would have no place to hide in this country.
“They can go as far as fishing out Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho from different countries but can’t fish out bandits in theirs. God help us,” @sarcasm_presh added on Twitter, among comments published by Vanguard.
Kanu is the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) which seeks separation of the South East from Nigeria to form a country for the Igbos.
On Buhari’s order, Nigerian security agents broke international law when they kidnapped Kanu in Nairobi, Kenya on June 27 and brought him to Abuja where he has since been detained to continue his court trial for treason.
Igboho agitates for the same cause in the South West where he wants a separate country carved out for the Yorubas.
On Buhari’s order, he was arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic on Monday on his way to Germany, but other Yoruba activists are trying to secure his release from detention and prevent his expedition back to Nigeria.
Yomi Alliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), argued that Igboho – whose real name is Sunday Adeyemo – cannot be extradited because of the extradition treaty of 1984 between Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, and Republic of Benin.
“The Extradition Treaty of 1984 between Togo, Nigeria, Ghana and Republic of Benin excluded political fugitives,” Alliyu said.
“It also states that where the fugitive will not get justice because of discrimination and/or undue delay in prosecution the host country should not release the fugitive.”
Buhari’s hypocrisy
There is no crime Buhari has accused Kanu and Igboho of committing in the South which terrorists are not doing worse in the North, where the jihadists prevent farmers from cultivating crops and murder law-abiding citizens with impunity.
On July 16, the army announced that the terrorists murdered Hassan Ahmed, a Major General and Director at Army Headquarters, Abuja.
The army said Ahmed, a former Provost of Marshall of the Nigerian Army, was travelling on the Lokoja-Abuja Road when his vehicle was attacked by gunmen around Abaji area council on July 15.
A source close to the family confirmed to Daily Post that the assassins kidnapped Ahmed’s sister, Safina, who was initially mistaken for his wife.
On July 18, the Nigerian Air Force announced that one of its alpha jet aircraft used for attacks against armed men crashed in the North West “under intense enemy fire” from terrorists.
There was no casualty as the pilot ejected and escaped enemy fire.
“On 18 July 2021, at about 12.45 pm, a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet aircraft, returning from a successful air interdiction mission between the boundaries of Zamfara and Kaduna State, came under intense enemy fire which led to its crash in Zamfara State,” Air Force spokesman Edward Gabkwet said in a statement.
This brings to at least four the number of air crashes involving Nigerian military planes in seven months.
Also on July 18, the police announced that 13 officers were killed that day during an operation to repel an attack by bandits in Kurar Mota village in Zamfara State.
State police spokesperson Muhammad Shehu confirmed in a statement that the officers paid the supreme price and many bandits were also killed.
“The attack occurred on Sunday at about 1230hrs, when Police Mobile operatives deployed at Kurar Mota village in Bungudu LGA were responding to a distress call with regards to an attempt by bandits to attack some nearby communities,” Shehu said.
All of these deaths occurred within three weeks in July. Thousands of others have been killed by terrorists in the North since they began their Islamist jihad in 2009.
Last week, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) accused Buhari of doing injustice and demanded his impeachment for releasing 1,009 Boko Haram murderers while locking up Kanu.
The murderers, who had been in military custody at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, were released on July 14 without court trial.
They were handed over to the Borno State government in a secret ceremony initially billed to take place at an earlier date but was suspended indefinitely by the military authorities in the wake of the appointment of a new Chief of Army Staff.
Other reactions on Twitter
Below are other reactions on Twitter compiled by Vanguard:
@Godswillluv
“Nigerian state is seriously provoking the entire southerners to war. A call for Referendum is a democratic process that is enshrined in @UN & Nigerian constitution, why then is @NigeriaGov kicking against agitators?”
@renoomokri
“The reported arrest of Sunday Igboho in Cotonou is unfortunate. He is a hero freedom fighter who defended us.
We must also defend him and gather resources for his legal defence. Igboho deserves the same commitment from us, that Buhari is showing to killer herdsmen.”
@oduduwarepublic
“Now the case begin. Sunday Igboho has been arrested in Cotonou. No more peace in Nigeria.”
@fisayosoyombo
“If you’re high priority to government, you will eventually be found, as the arrest of Sunday Igboho proves.
“But if you’re not, whether you’re a top bandit or Boko Haram commander, your freedom is limitless. Insurgency, banditry thrive ‘cos they’re not govt’s biggest priorities.”
@FS_Yusuf
“So now, the Govt has Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho, I hope they would have time for ‘smaller’ issues like terrorism in the North that has killed thousands, kidnapped thousands, sack villages, invade our airspace, control territories and killed many in the security forces.”
@olorunwababs
“There are news reports Sunday Igboho has been arrested. The news came in like the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu.
“I am just curious why the government is able to “prioritize” arresting these guys while terrorists shooting down military fighter jets are operating freely without arrest.”
@4thArmOfGovt
“In Buhari’s Nigeria, it’s a crime to seek freedom from oppression, and that’s the offence of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho. Yoruba elders, we are watching you.”