Dambazau links OPC, ESN, Boko Haram

A former interior minister have seen parallels between Boko Haram and two other ethnic militia groups in Nigeria, and the three are aiming at Nigeria’s disintegration.

According to retired Lt.-Gen. Abdul-Rahman Dambazau, the OPC) and the IPOB are extremist groups like Boko Haram, and they are sponsoring a new wave of extremism that could ignite ethnic conflict.

“The two groups have been making efforts to ignite nationwide inter-ethnic conflicts through their violent attacks on northern residents or transacting businesses in the south as a quick way to realise their dream for a divided Nigeria,” said this at Army War College in Abuja while delivering a lecture to participants of course 5/2021.

While IPOB has made its intention clear on secession, and have been confronting the security forces in the process, the OPC has been asking for restructuring, and has yet to be as confrontational as other groups.

nd to tackle them, the police has a critical role in quelling recent agitations across the country, “instead of leaving everything for the military”.

The Nigerian police have come under attacks largely by criminals suspected to be members of the Eastern Security Network.

But before now, the military have been the major resistance against the onslaught of Boko Haram terrorism in the northeast, and they are now being deployed to tackle internal uprising.