President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to deal with Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe representing Abia South at the Senate for bankrolling Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB).
Mr Buhari made the vow in his independence day speech while addressing Nigerians on the occasion of the country’s 61st independence celebration.
Mr Abaribe, one of the staunch critics of the president, was one of the three sureties who signed the bail bond of Mr Kanu when he was first granted bail. He deposited N100 million to be forfeited should he fail to produce the secessionist released from prison in April 2017.
One of the bail conditions given to Mr Kanu was for him not to be seen in a gathering of more than 10 people let alone be seen in a rally. He flouted the condition but rather than wait for the next adjourned sitting to notify the court of its orders defied, the President Muhammadu Buhari regime in September 2017 sent soldiers to invade the Afaraukwu home of the separatist leader.
Mr Kanu managed to escape and thereafter resurfaced in Israel a year after from where he began touring nations around the world, propagating his demands which includes the restoration of the defunct Biafra Republic, until he was intercepted, nabbed and brought back to the country from Kenya.
In his independence day speech, Mr Buhari who did not mention names said he has identified a lawmaker at the national assembly who is bankrolling Mr Kanu.
He promised to move against the lawmaker which TODAY POLITICS learnt was no other person than Mr Abaribe, owing to his criticism of the president who recently described the South-East region as a dot in a circle.
The Abia South lawmaker rather than been disparaged by the description adorned a T-shirt with the inscription ‘The Dot Nation,’ a conduct most Northern youths lambasted him for.
The president also promised to deal with individuals he said were high-profile financiers of Kanu and another separatist leader, Sunday Igboho, who is on the run.
“The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals,” Mr Buhari posited. “We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the national assembly.
“This is a clear example of how people abandon their national leadership positions for their selfish gains. Instead of preaching unity, they are funding and misleading our youth to conduct criminal acts that sometimes lead to unfortunate and unnecessary loss of lives and property.
“As the so-called leaders run abroad to hide, our innocent youths are misled and left in the streets to fight for their senseless and destructive causes.
“Government will continue, with greater level of peoples’ participation and in collaboration with our international partners, to improve the security architecture, reduce enabling environment for criminality to thrive and eliminate opportunities for terrorism financing,” he said.
Despite opposition by elements demanding the restructuring of the country, the president said the unity of the nation remains unnegotiable.
He noted that rather than resort to violence, dialogue should be adopted by aggrieved parties to resolve issues.
“Nigeria is for all of us. Its unity is not negotiable. And its ultimate success can only be achieved if we all come together with a common goal of having peace and prosperity for our nation.
“We shall continue to work on dialogue based solutions to address legitimate grievances. But we remain ready to take decisive actions against secessionist agitators and their sponsors who threaten our national security,” he added.
