Kanu’s Counsel Ejimakor Laments ‘Heavy Military Deployment’ to Southeast, Cites Calm in Sokoto

ABUJA — Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to jailed IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, has queried the rationale for what he described as increased military deployment in Nigeria’s Southeast, contrasting it with the security presence he observed in Sokoto.

“Why are more & more soldiers being deployed to Southeast?” Ejimakor wrote on his official media handle. “I was in Sokoto until yesterday & I didn’t see a single military or even police checkpoint or presence, even around the prison.”

He added: “The Southeast I know & traverse daily remains the most peaceful. So, I wonder why.”

Ejimakor’s reaction comes amid ongoing security operations in the Southeast targeting armed groups, separatist violence, merely agitating for a sovereign state of Biafra in states such as Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, and Ebonyi since 2014. The Federal Government and security agencies have cited sit-at-home enforcement, attacks on security personnel, and destruction of public facilities as reasons for sustained operations in the region.

Sokoto State, in the Northwest, has faced separate security challenges, including banditry and kidnapping in rural areas, though urban Sokoto has seen fewer high-profile cases of attacks compared to other parts.

The Nigerian military has not issued a specific response to Ejimakor’s statement as of press time. Defence Headquarters has previously maintained that troop deployments are based on threat assessments, intelligence, and requests from state governments.

Ejimakor has been a frequent critic of security measures in the Southeast since Kanu’s arrest and 2021 extradition. Kanu is now a life jail after Justice James Omotosho convicted of the terrorism related charges against him.

The statement resonates with the concerns of the vast majority of Southeasterners who lament unnecessary militarisation of the region instead of the Northern region steeped in terrorism.