This Day
By Deji Elumoye and Alex Enumah in Abuja
The federal government yesterday blamed the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who is on trial for treason, for the murder of Chike Akunyili, the husband of the late Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Dora Akunyili.
The government also said it had established a link between Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho, and a Boko Haram sponsor, Surajo Muhammad, who was jailed in the United Arab Emirates on charges of financing terrorism.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), made these allegations yesterday while unveiling the findings of a Presidential Committee set up to investigate Kanu and Ighoho.
The 24-member committee, headed by Malami, had representatives from the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Information, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, the National Intelligence Agency and the Defence Intelligence Agency.
The government further accused Kanu of being responsible for the murder of a former Presidential Aide, Ahmad Gulak, and over 177 others in the South-East.
The committee said consequent upon the instigating directives of Kanu, members of IPOB and the Eastern Security Network carried out massive attacks on democratic institutions, especially facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “with a view to hampering democratic process in Nigeria.”
It said the attacks that were carried out between October 2020 and June 2021 led to the killing of 175 security personnel.
The report reads in part: “Acting on the instigating directives of Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB members and #EndSARS protesters attacked and killed many security agents, destroyed several public and private properties, including police stations, public transport buses and other facilities across the country.
“That on October 21, 2020, Nnamdi Kanu through an online call-in radio programme (Radio Biafra), further instigated IPOB members to burn down all police stations and kill government security forces, which was carried out, and security personnel (especially police officers) were killed and public and private properties destroyed.
“That 175 security personnel were killed by IPOB/ESN, comprising 128 policemen, 37 military personnel and 10 other security operatives.
“Recently, there were gruesome killings of traditional leaders: Obi 1 of Okwudor autonomous community…
