“Bandits, Boko Haram, Different from IPOB” – El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said that Boko Haram terrorists and bandits are different from the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, because they don’t have a recognised and centralised leadership.

He said Kanu is a visible and central leader, based abroad and calling for the dissolution of the country.

Governor el-Rufai said this in an interview on BBC Pidgin on Friday morning.

El-Rufai made the comments while responding to a question bordering on Nigerians asking why the bandits and terrorists in the North are not being treated with the same swiftness agitators in the southern parts are dealt.

According to El-Rufai, “I was very happy (when Nnamdi Kanu was arrested) because, first he jumped bail, jeopardising his sureties.

“Secondly, a person that challenges the sovereignty and the authority of a state and incites violence; he refers to his own country as a zoo.

“This should be a message to all these separatists challenging the authority of the Nigerian State to be very careful.”

Asked about handling Boko Haram and bandits with the same swiftness, he said: “No! No! No! No! People are comparing apples to oranges.

“Nnamdi Kanu is the leader of IPOB, a proscribed organisation. He is identifiable, in constant communication and everyone knows where he is.

“Let’s take Boko Haram for instance. Shekau was in hiding and for the past 10 years and the military had been waging a war to get him.

“It is not like Shekau was in Saudi Arabia, sitting in one place, tweeting about the break up of Nigeria or asking Boko Haram to go and kill Helen and Nasir el-Rufai.

“Nnamdi Kanu is in one place while Shekau is waging guerrilla warfare. The insurgency is still going on and the Federal Government is not giving up.

See also How Nnamdi KANU Was Arrested.

“Regarding bandits, they are not centralised under one leadership. Who is the head of the bandits? Who is the equivanlent of Nmandi Kanu with banditry?

“Bandits are just collections of independent criminals. It is a business for them. It is not a case of Nigeria must break up.

“I want to challenge anyone to tell me the central leader of bandits in the same position as Kanu.”

See also AGF Explains Why He Announced Nnamdi Kanu’s Arrest in Hausa Language.

According to a report on the TheCable Kanu was tracked through some members of IPOB who were recently arrested following a massive military operation in the south-east.

The report say security agencies worked through the links to give the IPOB leader the impression that he was going to be given some “millions of dollars” in cash donations to the organisation.He was said to have decided to collect the money himself “because of the huge amount involved”.

Kanu even kept his associates in the dark about his mission, according to the security sources who said the top hierarchy did not know his whereabouts on the day he was arrested.