Buhari moves to crush ESN, IPOB, visits Imo

There are emerging insinuations and fears in the southeast that President Muhammadu Buhari is reworking the security architecture to crush the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN), established on the order of Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB leader, in the southeast. The president, accordingly, has arranged for a visit to Imo State on Thursday with the reason of going to inaugurate projects that Governor Hope Uzodimma has completed in the state.

Governor Uzodimma had in Owerri, celebrated that he has got the consent of President Buhari to visit Imo State on Thursday when he went to Abuja.

However, President Buhari on Tuesday convened an emergency security meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, and other heads of security agencies at the State House, Abuja.

The service chiefs at the Tuesday meeting are expected to brief the President on the efforts made so far to contain the prevailing security challenges in the country, and the next steps.

The President is putting head together with the service chiefs in tackling the surge of banditry, kidnapping, killings, invasion of communities and public institutions by armed men in the country

The Special Adviser to the President on media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Tuesday afternoon posted on Facebook: “President Buhari receives Security Briefing in State House on 7th Sep 2021.”

Other state actors attending the security meeting at the State House include the Ministers of Defence, Bashir Magashi; Justice, Abubakar Malami; Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi; Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; and Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.

The Tuesday security meeting in Abuja heralds the president’s visit to Imo State on Thursday, a notable troubled state in southeast Nigeria.

However, Governor Uzodinma, it will be recalled, in previous circumstances admitted inviting the army and other security operatives to Imo State where citizens were hatched by the security personnel under the cover of fighting IPOB members. Stakeholders in Imo State have at different times cried out that Orlu and several other communities in the state were being bombarded by the army, the police, and others, claiming to be on the manhunt of IPOB members.

The stakeholders in their phobia, expressed that the same Governor Uzodinma was also in Abuja to negotiate with President Buhari for a visit to Imo, making them develop palpable fear that the president could be in Imo to reinforce the army, police, and others to crush the IPOB and ESN, which members they believe have been providing them protection in the southeast against external aggressors and the killer herdsmen.

Meanwhile, Governor Uzodinma, celebrating the president’s visit on Thursday, had declared: “We have secured approval for the President to visit Imo State on Thursday, September 9, 2021, to commission some projects put together by our Shared Prosperity Administration.”

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Uzodimma appealed to the people of Imo State to give President Buhari a rousing welcome when he visits the state.

President Buhari has, however, paid similar working visits to Lagos, as well as the troubled states of Borno and Yobe, where Boko Haram and killer herdsmen have been tormenting the people.