Buhari sends five northern governors to southeast geo-political zones in bid to ease tension

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has sent five governors from northern Nigeria led by the Borno State governor and chairman of the Northern State Governors Forum Kashim Shettima to the southeast geo-political zone to broker a peace deal.

 

Over the last fortnight, Nigeria has been very tense following the launch of Operation Python Dance in the southeast by the armed forces. Local youths, who are agitating for the creation of a sovereign state called Biafra, see it as an act of intimidation and there have been clashes between both sides.

 

According to the secessionist group the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), Operation Python Dance is an attempt to arrest its leader Nnamdi Kanu. After altercations between Ipob members and the Nigerian Army, the military decided to unilaterally declare the group a terrorist organisation, which has heightened tension further in the region.

 

In an attempt to diffuse the tension, President Buhari has sent the governors led by Governor Shettima to talk to their colleagues in the southeast.  Others in the team are Aminu Masari (Katsina), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano).

 

Over the last week, there have been gory images and video clips of Ipob members allegedly killed in Abia by soldiers posted on social media platforms. There are moves on now, however, to dampen the tension and senate president Senator Bukola Saraki has already said that the proscription of Ipob and its categorisation as a terrorist organisation by the Nigerian Army is illegal.

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