Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Chairman Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) yesterday backed the military’s declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation.
He said he agreed with the Defence Headquarters’ description of IPOB as a terror group even if he was not sure whether the army complied with legal requirements in making the pronouncement.
Sagay, in an interview with The Nation, said IPOB exhibited characteristics that justified being so described.
According to him, even if the group wanted secession, there were better ways of doing it than using abusive language and stoking violence, which he accused IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu of.
He said: “Whilst I’m not sure of the legal parameters of that declaration, in practice, I agree. If you look at it, we’re very lucky that this thing did not get out of hand.
“They (IPOB) were coming in their thousands, establishing road blocks, bringing out Northerners – for what, I don’t know – to kill some of them? If that is allowed, then the country is finished. Then they burned down a police station, killed a policeman.
“For Christ’s sake, even if you want Biafra, you don’t have to be violent. If you look at the words that Kanu uses on the social media, how he has described our President and the rest of us as living in a zoo – abusive, violent, intemperate words – kill, kill, kill, all those in my view, constitute in totality acts of terrorism in which they can push undiscerning youths into rage and violence, which can be destructive.
“You saw Moslems seeking protection in Port Harcourt. If you start killing Northerners and the North reacts, then we’ve had it.
“I just thank God that the North is showing some maturity and some sense of restraint while this is being curbed. But we really need to curb IPOB, otherwise they will turn this country into a tinderbox.”
THE NATION