A Northern socio-political group, the Arewa Integrity Forum (AIF) has described as an afterthought, the withdrawal of a statement on insecurity in the Southeast credited to a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Abia state, Umeh Kalu, SAN.
Kalu had fingered the Nigerian army of being behind the killings in the region, accusing the military of planting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) across the Southeast and blaming members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the group’s armed militia, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), for it.
Specifically, the former Attorney-General had accused the Military of recently masterminding the planting of IEDs in Imo state and then framing IPOB members and ESN just to nail and paint IPOB Leader, Maazi Nnamdi Kanu black. He had subsequently denied the statement following the negative comments that greeted it in the media.
But reacting to the development in a statement on Tuesday, AIF Coordinator, Suleiman Musa Mohammed lambasted Umeh Kalu, describing him as a coward, while calling on the Department of State Services, DSS, and other security agencies to invite the former Commissioner for questioning over his comments on security.
He said: “We have seen a recent statement credited to a former Attorney-General in Abia state, Umeh Kalu, concerning insecurity in the Southeast. We at AIF believe that Kalu knows more than we all already know as Nigerians about the security situation in the country and call on security agencies to investigate the former Commissioner for Justice.
“We are greatly disturbed by the reckless utterances of Kalu, a man with such a ranking position of SAN, and consider his sudden u-turn as an afterthought. Our forum see Kalu as an enemy of the state who is out to truncate the peace already being enjoyed by people of the Southeast. The Military must never allow this to happen.
“We, therefore, call on the Department of State Services (DSS), Army, Police not to allow this slide but to immediately invite Umeh Kalu for questioning and to shed more light on his recent comments bothering on security in the Southeast. This is our position at AIF,” Mohammed added.
The group called on Nigerians to join hands with the Military in defending the nation, warning that any further aspersions on the Army by any person, no matter how highly placed including Umeh Kalu, would be resisted by the AIF.
“In spite of what is happening across the country, our belief and hope is that Nigeria will pull through and even become stronger and more prosperous. That is why we enjoin all to continue to pray for the country and join the military in its efforts to fight insecurity in the country.
“The country is passing through a phase that will soon be over and propel us into a future that we all will be proud of as Nigerians. This is our fervent hope and prayers and we must therefore shun divisive statements and actions as Nigerians,” the statement added.
