The police have increased the numerical strength of their personnel in the South East and South-South zones of the country as part of measures to prev
The police have increased the numerical strength of their personnel in the South East and South-South zones of the country as part of measures to prevent Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is under surveillance, from fleeing the country should the court revoke his bail and order his re-arrest for allegedly flouting his bail conditions.
The Federal Government had last week asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to revoke the bail granted to Kanu, who is being prosecuted along with others on treasonable felony charges. The government had accused the IPOB leader of flouting his bail conditions and filed an application asking the court to revoke his bail and direct security agencies to re-arrest him.
The prosecution had said that instead of using the opportunity of his bail to attend to his health needs, Kanu had gone ahead to inaugurate a security outfit, known as Biafra Security Service. The prosecution said this constituted a threat to national security. But when contacted, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, confirmed that the police had deployed more riot policemen in the South East and South-South regions to avert a breach of security and maintain law and order.
But Moshood did not confirm if Kanu was under surveillance to prevent him from fleeing the country should the court rule in favour of the government, even though, sources in the police maintained that that was the situation. He however admitted additional deployments, particularly in Anambra State, because of the upcoming governorship election and also to other South East and South-South states to ensure that IPOB did not actualise its threat of stopping the election.
Kanu had, in his application filed on July 1, 2017, urged the court to vary the conditions of the bail granted him on April 25, 2017. But the Federal Government had, in its application filed on August 25, 2017, asked the court to revoke the bail granted Kanu, on the grounds that the IPOB leader had flouted the bail conditions. It maintained that Kanu had flagrantly violated all the bail conditions, adding that the essence of the bail, which was for Kanu to look after his health, had been defeated.
IPOB had, last weekend, vowed to resist any attempt by the Federal Government to re-arrest Kanu, without first obtaining a court order. In a statement released then, IPOB said, “IPOB wishes to notify the public about the illegal and undemocratic moves by the Federal Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, to re-arrest our leader, who committed no crime known to the laws of the Nigerian state. Before Buhari decides to make a move to arrest our leader, he must first go to court to obtain an order or else it will be resisted by millions of IPOB members.”
Punch
