Threats against Nigeria’s sovereignty are real, –By GBEMIGA OLAKUNLE

In our article last week titled “Th e misadventure of Nnamdi Kanu and co”, we alluded to the probability of foreign backing for the outlawed IPOB.
Our fears were later confi rmed as soon as the article was published, when Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, revealed the shocking details that the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) account and radio stations are domiciled in France and Britain, respectively.
While France reacted and promised to investigate the matter, pledging its support to the peaceful coexistence of Nigeria as a nation, I am yet to see Britain’s reaction and why it has not cooperated with Nigeria to stop IPOB radio from its territory.
And as if to confi rm our fears that the threats against the sovereignty of Nigeria are real, last week the local newspapers were awash with the screaming banners of the latest seizure of arms and ammunition by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at one of our seaports.
Blueprint newspaper under its headline: “Again, Customs intercepts 470 pump action rifl es: seizures now 2,671 in 8 months,” reported thus, “barely three weeks after the Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) intercepted a container load of 1,100 pump action rifl es from Turkey, the Service yesterday (Th ursday, September 21, 2017) displayed another consignment of 470 smuggled rifl es seized at Tincan Island Port, Lagos”.
Th e paper went ahead to report that the latest seizure brings the number of intercepted pump action rifl es to 2,671 within the last 8 months from Turkey” (Blueprint, Friday September 22, 2017, page 6).
But why Turkey is the regular origin of these illegal arms into the country? Was it a mere coincidence that a Turkish man who claimed to be a diplomat and president of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) came on two occasions to visit the self-acclaimed Supreme Leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, yet the Turkish government chose not to dissociate from the visits of this man and his comments? He even reportedly went ahead to be the chief propagandist of the IPOB struggle.
Still mum was the word from the Turkish government until the federal government bared its fangs through Operation Egwu Eke II, Operation Python Dance II, in order to checkmate the escalation of the violent struggle.
It was then that the Turkish authorities through its embassy in Nigeria declaimed this self- acclaimed diplomat.
Why did the Turkish government keep mute all when until the bubbles began to burst? With these “mere coincidences”, can we safely deduce that one of the destinations of these seized arms is the South-east with the end-users as members of the Biafra National Guard which Kanu has reportedly showcased as the security/militia arm of his movement? Another possible destination of these seized arms is the North-central geo-political zone.
Yes, the North-central with high probability of herdsmen/ militia men who have been allegedly terrorizing this zone and parts of South-east and Southwest as end-users.
However, Presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, has insisted that these militia men who had the capacity to infl ict such collateral damages on the citizens of this country are not qualifi ed to be classifi ed as terrorists.
Instead, Shehu classifi ed them as ordinary criminal gangs.
Th ese herdsmen have allegedly sacked some communities in Benue and Plateau states including Southern Kaduna, yet the Presidency has chosen to “demote” them and tagged them as a bands or gangs of criminals.
And so with the kind of sophisticated weapons such as AK 47 that these groups are using, it is possible that members of these militia groups are recipients/end-users of the recently impounded arms at our ports, especially in Lagos.
Of course, we cannot leave out some of the terrorized communities in the North-central zone as possible end-users of these arms.
Such communities may have decided to arm themselves in self-defence.
We are giving these security hints so that the concerned security agencies can know where to beam their searchlights in their eff orts to track down the true destinations of the incessant infl ux of these illegal arms and ammunition into the country.
Also, the Offi ce of the Auditor-General of the Federation said several arms and ammunition of the Nigeria Police Force have disappeared and possibly found their ways into the hands of undesirable elements like kidnappers and armed robbers.
In other words, there is the possibility of high proliferation of illegal arms and ammunition in the country now with potential threats to undermine the sovereignty of Nigeria.
God forbid, in Jesus name.
Security wise, the federal government should be more watchful at all our entry points – sea or air and land – for such illegal arms importation.
In addition, the illegal arms that are already in circulation should be mopped up.
More importantly and on the political scene, the federal government should listen to the cacophony of voices clamouring for restructuring of the polity.
Everybody cannot be noisemakers or “band of wailers”.
In fact, the ministry of the wailing wailers is better than those who have concluded that the best way to settle scores with the Nigerian state is to carry arms against it and destabilize it.
In other words, which one is preferable out of two children of the same parents?- a child that is wailing for his parents’ attention or the one throwing stones at his parents just to get the same attention? Among the so – called noisemakers, there are genuine voices who can articulate the views of others in a way to de-escalate the rising tension in order to move the nation forward.
Th e earlier the federal government listens to such articulate voices the better for all of us and this nation.
So, these threats are real.
Th us, we enjoin the federal government not to ignore them or treat them with kid’s gloves.
Th e authorities are hereby enjoined to consider the above recommended measures as soon as possible.
A stitch in time saves nine.