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Agitation In The South-East Has Been Hijacked By Criminals – South East Governors

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Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi
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Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi who also double as the
Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum has said that agitation against marginalization of the zone has been hijacked by criminals.

Ebonyi State Govrrnor said this when happeared 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.”

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.

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”.

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Defence and Security

Senate Confirms Appointment Of Oluyede As COAS

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Major General Olufemi Oluyede
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The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede for appointment as Chief of Army Staff.

The confirmation today followed the consideration of reports by the Chairman of the sense committee on Army, Sen. Yar’ adua, Abdulaziz Musa (Katsina Central).

The committee’s recommendations were unanimously adopted by the upper chamber.

Lieutenant General Oluyede was appointed to act as the Chief of Army Staff following the illness and subsequent death of Lt. Gen. Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja.

 

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Defence and Security

Tinubu Appoints New DG for NIA, DSS

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President Bola Tinubu
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
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President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of new Directors-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS).

Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed is the new Director-General of the NIA.

Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi is the new Director-General of the DSS.

This is contained in a statement by Chief Ajuri Ngelale Special Adviser to the President, Media & Publicity

The statement reads : “Ambassador Mohammed has had an illustrious career in the foreign service since joining the NIA in 1995.

He had served in various roles, culminating in his promotion to the rank of Director and his subsequent appointment as the head of the Nigerian mission to Libya”

“The 1990 graduate of Bayero University, Kano, had served in North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, and at the State House, Abuja”

“The new DSS Director-General, Mr.

Adeola Ajayi, rose through the ranks to attain his current post of Assistant Director-General of the Service. He had, at various times, served as State Director in Bauchi, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kogi”

“The new appointments follow the resignation of the previous NIA and DSS chiefs”

“President Tinubu expects that the new security chiefs will work assiduously to reposition the two intelligence agencies for better results and charges them to bring their experience to bear in tackling the security challenges bedeviling the country through enhanced collaboration with sister agencies and in surgical alignment with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

The President thanks the outgoing Directors-General of the two pivotal intelligence agencies for their services to the nation while wishing them success in their future endeavours”

 

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Defence and Security

Army Has No Desire To Truncate Nigeria’s Democracy — COAS

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Chief of Army Staff
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja
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The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, on Tuesday, restated the commitment of the Nigerian Army to defend the nation’s choice of government, democracy.

Addressing participants at a seminar on career planning and management organised by the Army headquarters, the COAS said the Army has no plans to truncate democracy in the country.

He charged officers of the Nigerian Army to remain above board in the discharge of their professional duties.

“Permit me to seize this opportunity to reiterate that the Armed Forces of Nigeria, particularly the Nigerian Army has come to terms with the country’s choice of democracy as the preferred system of governance,” he said during his address to officers.

“We are therefore agents of democracy and have no desire to truncate it. The Nigerian Army will continue to defend our constitution and not suspend it for whatever reason.

“It is the duty of our elected leaders to lead while the military does its job as enshrined in our constitution. Nigerian Army personnel must therefore remain professional and be above board as they discharge their constitutional duties.”

The commitment by the COAS followed the series of putsches in West and Central Africa which have experienced at least seven military takeovers in the last four years.

Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and most recently, Niger Republic — all members of the Economic Community of Western African States ( ECOWAS) — have pulled out from the regional bloc in last four years. Outside of West Africa, Chad and Sudan also experienced military coups in 2021.

 

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