Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe has blamed the governors of the southeast states for the lingering insecurity in the zone.

The Senator representing Abia South Senatorial District spoke on Sunday on 90MinutesAfrica, an online current affairs programme hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah.

He noted that the political differences of the governors have hampered any effective resolution of the security situation in the zone. He cited the example of the failure of the state governors to jointly fund the Ebube Agu zonal security outfit.

Senator Abaribe also accused those he termed “external elements” of the worsening insecurity in the southeast.

He wondered why anyone who claims to be from the zone would perpetrate acts of criminality in the name of fighting for the actualisation of Biafra.

He insisted that “some rogue elements have infiltrated and taken over” the agitation in the southeast. “Mazi Nnamdi Kanu told us that he is not in support of the sit-at-home but every Monday people still sit-at-home because some elements keep issuing counter orders from abroad,” Abaribe added.

He called on political leaders to come together to resolve the crisis bedevilling the zone. “This is not time for blame game. We need to come together to resolve this crisis,” he said.

Hundreds of residents and security agents have been killed across the region in recent years amidst separatist clamour for an independent Biafra state to be carved out of Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari has maintained his administration’s resolve to quell the agitations, and his regime in June 2021 abducted secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya and forcibly transferred him to Nigeria where he had remained in federal custody.