Buhari to U.S., UK: Declare IPOB terrorist organisation

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Western allies to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation over their complicity in damage to pipelines and infrastructure in the South-East and South-South zones.

Buhari said criminality and terrorism in Nigeria’s oil-producing states have continued to hamper oil production.

He made this known in an interview with Bloomberg.

”It would help if our western allies designated IPOB as a terrorist group, given their complicity in damage to pipelines and infrastructure,” he said.

President Buhari, while fielding a question about his administration’s record on fighting insecurity and corruption, said the country is safer than he met it in 2015.

He added that proscribing IPOB, a group seeking secession of parts of Southern Nigeria, will improve the situation.

The President further stated that the country had invested in the security forces, including the one billion dollars military deal with the U.S. for the acquisition of A-29 Super Tucano aircraft.

Buhari said: “We leave Nigeria in a far better place than we found it.

“Corruption is less hidden for Nigerians feel empowered to report it without fear, while money is returned; terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria, and their leaders are deceased; and vast infrastructure development sets the country on course for sustainable and equitable growth.

“In 2015, Boko Haram held territory the size of Belgium within the borders of Nigeria. Today they are close to extinct as a military force. The leader of ISWAP was eliminated by a Nigerian Airforce airstrike in March.

“The jets acquired from the US and intelligence shared by British were not provided to previous administrations and stand as testament to renewed trust re-built between Nigeria and our traditional western allies under my government.

“We urge those same international partners to take additional steps costing them nothing, by proscribing another group – IPOB – as a terrorist organisation.

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“Their leadership enjoys safe haven in the West, broadcasting hate speech into Nigeria from London, spending millions lobbying members of the US Congress, and freely using international financial networks to arm agitators on the ground. This must stop.

“My administration is the only in Nigeria’s history to implement a solution to decades-long herder-farmer conflicts, exacerbated by desertification and demographic growth.

“The National Livestock Transformation Plan, putting ranching at its core, is the only way to deplete the competition for resources at the core of the clashes.

“Governors from some individual states have sought to play politics where ranches have been established; but where they have been disputes have dramatically reduced.

“Working with our international partners, hundreds of millions of various currencies have been returned from abroad – primarily from the UK, US, and Switzerland – and used as social and welfare funds distributed directly to the poorest during the Covid pandemic and the provision of long-delayed infrastructure-roads, bridges, rail, and power.

“As an illustration, Monetary recoveries (January-December) 2021 show that more N152 billion has been recovered. Dollar recoveries for the year amount to over USD 386 million; GBP, more than 1.1 million; Euro, about 157,000; Saudi Riyals about 1.7 million some more in Digital and other currencies.

“Those partners refused to return these monies held for decades to previous Nigerian administrations in the certainty they would simply be re-stolen. They changed their approach with us because they knew my administration could be trusted,” the President stated.

The Star