Human rights activist and a former Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chidi Odinkalu, says cultism financed by politicians is the major security challenge confronting Nigeria’s South-east.
Mr Odinkalu, a professor, spoke on Thursday night when he appeared as a guest on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
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He admitted that the impact of violence linked to the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South-east is undeniable, but argued that IPOB’s contributions to the insecurity in the region are “overblown.”
“The idea that every issue in the South-east is an IPOB issue is ridiculous. It’s absolutely not the case,” he said.
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PREMIUM TIMES recalls that Mr Odinkalu chaired a 15-member Truth, Justice and Peace Committee set up by Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State in April 2022 to help address rising cases of agitation, insecurity and other challenges in the state and South-east.
The committee submitted its report to the governor in March last year, about two years after.
Speaking on the TV programme on Thursday, Mr Odinkalu said, based on his findings during his work at the committee, sponsored cultism, not IPOB violence, is the major cause of insecurity in the South-east.
“Let me tell you this. The biggest single issue, in security terms, confronting the South-east, in my estimation, based on the work I have done on this, is - I regret to disappoint you - not IPOB. It is cultism financed by politicians,” he said.
“You don’t have a clue how terrible the problem of cults in the South-east is at this particular time.”
The former NHRC chairperson acknowledged that there is a possibility of “crossover between cultism and IPOB” in the South-east violence, but argued that cultism remains “the biggest single security challenge confronting” the region.
Violence in the South-east
There has been worsening insecurity in the South-east with frequent attacks by armed persons across the region.
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Security operatives, government officials and facilities have been targeted in some of the attacks by the hoodlums.
Several people, including traditional rulers and state lawmakers, have been abducted or killed in some of the attacks in the region.
The Nigerian government has repeatedly accused IPOB of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region, but the group has consistently denied its involvement in the attacks.
IPOB is a group seeking to carve out a sovereign state of Biafra from the South-east and some parts of the South-south of Nigeria.
Its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is facing a terrorism trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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