BEVERLY HILLS, September 21, (THEWILL) – The Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has explained that President Muhammadu Buhari did not mention the trending agitation by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, during an address to the United Nations General Assembly, because the crisis has not got to the level that he should tell the world about it.
THEWILL recalls that the Nigerian Army last week launched Operation Python Dance II to among other things contain pro-Biafra agitations by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB. This came with clashes between members of IPOB and soldiers in Abia state, which became a flashpoint of violence.
This led the military into declaring IPOB a militant terrorist organisation, same last Friday that South-East governors proscribed IPOB’s activities in the region, asking the agitators to forward their positions on national issues through their governors or National Assembly members.
Buhari has been criticised in certain quarters for using his address at the world event on Tuesday to highlight problems in other countries while ignoring issues threatening the continued existence of his country.
But speaking with State House correspondents in New York on Wednesday, Akeredolu, who is part of the president’s delegation to the annual event, stated that the challenge posed by IPOB was a local issue that could be contained through Nigeria’s internal mechanisms.
“IPOB agitation is not something you escalate to the level of the United Nations for now. It’s something that you can contain. It is something that you can contain within what I will call our territorial jurisdiction.
“Why escalate it to the United Nations? They (United Nations) know of it. It’s not that they don’t know of it, but it’s not an issue for now and it will never be an issue in Nigeria for me as a person,” the governor explained.
He however pointed out that Buhari highlighted other problems facing Nigeria such as the Boko Haram insurgency, corruption and repatriation of stolen assets.
According to Akeredolu, “The president also mentioned Boko Haram and the assistance we have received. He did say something about countries that have assisted us. He mentioned their names and thanked them.
“So, it’s not that our security issues were not addressed or other issues were not addressed like security, corruption, that is more tied to our funds that are outside.
“So, all those things have something to do with the country. If you are retrieving monies from all these western world, it has something to do with the country.”
