Nigerian separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu orchestrated the killing of 60 persons and the destruction of property in 55 violent attacks across the South East and South-South zones in four months, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.

The federal government stated this in a letter to Western diplomats. The letter, dated April 26, 2021, detailed the atrocities committed by IPOB on the instruction of Mr Kanu while in exile.

One of the letter’s attachments listed IPOB’s attacks on lives and property between January and April 2021.

It noted that with several of Mr Kanu’s broadcasts from Europe, there were concerns in official quarters that some western countries were justifying IPOB’s violent acts under the guise of the group’s pursuit of self-determination.

According to Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry’s demarche to some Western countries, President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime objected to a Western nation’s agency that IPOB created the Eastern Security Network (ESN) to combat insecurity.

The regime, however, considered the statement as “justifying the establishment of a militia by a non-state actor and glossing over the destructive and violent acts of IPOB and the ESN.”

The demarche added, ”In under four months this year, IPOB has carried out over 55 violent acts in various parts of South-East Nigeria, killing scores of people and destroying many properties. Indeed, it would seem that the position of the (Western nation) seems to have further emboldened Nnamdi Kanu, the self-confessed leader of IPOB.

”As recently as April 22, 2021, broadcasting online from his base in London, Mr Kanu has issued series of instructions to his militia and other members of the outlawed organisation on acts of violence to be carried out within the territory of Nigeria.”

It also noted that IPOB members, based on the instructions, intensified their attacks on the specified targets, insisting that Mr Kanu issued instructions from Western capitals using Radio Biafra.

Mr Buhari’s regime also told the Western nation that its position might have further emboldened Mr Kanu and increased the tempo of IPOB’s attacks.

Mr Kanu, who jumped bail in 2017 and fled the country, was arrested and re-arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.