Ohanaeze slams Buhari for Biu’s reinstatement

The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has condemned the reinstatement of the dismissed Commissioner of Police, Mr. Zakari Biu.

Biu was on Friday reinstated and statutorily retired by the Police Service Commission, nearly three years after he was dismissed for allegedly aiding the escape of Boko Haram mastermind, Kabiru Sokoto.

Sokoto, who is now serving a jail term in Abuja, was convicted for the bombing of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State.

It will be recalled that no fewer than 44 worshipers of the church lost their lives on the eve of 2011 Christmas.

The Ohanaeze Youth Council accused the President Muhammadu Buhari- led Federal Government of pursuing a northern agenda.

In a statement issued by the National President of the OYC, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, on Sunday, the group said the action of the Police Service Commission had confirmed that “Buhari’s administration indeed belongs to the North and not to everybody.”

The group said, “The manner and impunity with which the Buhari administration is reversing some laudable actions and policies of his predecessor without minding the security implications calls for concern. The decision of the PSC is very worrisome and against all known norms and true justice.”

The OYC said that by reinstating Biu, President Buhari had demonstrated that he had no regard for the lives of the innocent worshipers who perished in the bomb blast masterminded by Sokoto.

The statement partly read, “Before now, we were shouting over the recent lopsided appointments made by the President, where the South-East was deliberately ignored, but the worst has come by rewarding a man who aided Kabiru Sokoto after he snuffed life out of over 44 Igbo indigenes and left over 70 others critically injured.

“Our questions are these: What effort has the present administration made to know the situation of the victims of that bomb blast? What effort has the government made to know the condition of the bereaved families, considering that most of the victims were their bread winners?

“It is obvious that Mr. President cares less about the Ndigbo in this country; we are saying that the current administration is dragging this country into ethnic chaos and it will not yield any good fruit.”