By Odunewu Segun
Aside from health issues, the deteriorating situation in the Southeast is compounding the President Muhammadu Buhari’s aches and security concerns for his administration which is at the moment battling Boko Haram in the northeast and restive youths in the Niger Delta.
And his decision to visit London while returning from the UN where he is expected to deliver a national statement on Sunday is also fueling rumours about the status of his health, considering the months he spent in the UK treating an undisclosed ailment.
Meanwhile, the unrest this week in Umuahia and Aba, strongholds of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that left several people dead and injured has brought to fore the level of insecurity in the country as the President set out on another journey outside the country.
The Nigerian army has sent troops to the area as part of Operation Python Dance, which it says is targeting criminals, kidnappers and secessionists.
While the five governors from the Southeast has denounced Nnamdi Kanu and his Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the military declaration of the group as a terrorist has been described as ill-advised.
“The military response is ill-advised, and it is playing right into the hands of Ipob and buying them more sympathizers,” said Idayat Hassan, executive director of the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development. “This is an issue that should have been settled politically.”
In a statement Friday, military spokesman John Enenche described IPOB as a “militant terrorist organisation.” Ipob established its own secret police and a Biafra national guard, and attacked a military patrol on Sept. 10 with Molotov cocktails, stones and machetes, he said in a statement.
Compounding the issue, IPOB is also contemplating an option of defending itself, a drastic turnaround from the group’s earlier commitment to nonviolence.
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The Boko Haram extremist in the Northeast has also renewed its attacks in recent times. According to findings by National Daily, over 20,000 lives have been lost with another 5.2 million people displaced and need of foods and water.
In the southern Niger River delta, home to the country’s oil and gas industry, militants demanding more local control for the region’s resources sabotaged oil facilities last year, forcing output to its lowest level in decades at a time of slumping oil prices.
Buhari traveled in May to London where he spent more than three months on medical leave. It was his second such trip to the U.K. this year. He handed power to his deputy Yemi Osinbajo on both occasions.
The leader’s health issues have fueled concern about his ability to serve the remainder of his term that ends in 2019.