Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) under Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Anyim Pius Anyim, has denied being a sponsor of the Pro-Biafra agitation currently rocking the Southeast.
He says he knows the people behind the plan to associate him with the agitations, and has asked for extra security from President Muhammadu Buhari to protect him, his family and his associates. Anyim’s denials come just days after SaharaReporters tweeted that the former SGF was being investigated by the security agencies as being involved in the matter.
It is the second time the former SGF is sending out a press statement to distance himself from the agitators. SaharaReporters had been alerted by federal law enforcement agents of their possession of credible proof that Mr. Anyim has been in touch with pro-Biafra activists since 2012. That was when Nnamdi Kanu, who is the leader of a group called Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and is currently under detention by the Department of State Security, joined others to demonstrate at the Nigerian High Commission in the UK.
At the protest, Kanu spoke eloquently about the need to defeat Boko Haram and restore peace to Nigeria. He was emphatic that Nigeria should be saved from disintegration but also warned that if Boko Haram was not restrained, the country could become another Somalia. The video containing his comments recently surfaced on the Internet.
Mr. Kanu was subsequently heard on his Radio Biafra shows attacking President Buhari, calling him a pedophile and sponsor of Boko Haram. Kanu, who set up radio transmitters in the Southeast where he spewed hate speeches directed at various persons and groups around country, also toured the world calling for the break-up of Nigeria.
Security agencies told our reporters that the ease with which Kanu roamed the Southeast, and frequently Nigeria, showed that he was receiving backing from officials of the federal government at that time. They also point to the fact that the renewed agitation by IPOB was linked to the defeat of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr. Anyim is accused of engaging in shady businesses using the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Coincidentally, our tweet relating to the involvement of Mr. Anyim and the decision of IPOB and a faction of MASSOB to suspend mass protests is seen by security agents as being related to the exposure of IPOB sponsors, which has forced them to call the groups to order especially after the protest in Onitsha which led to an attack on a mosques, as well as the death of two police officers. At least seven protesters were also shot and killed by security agents.
In his letter to President Buhari, Anyim said he feels particularly endangered given a series of events which came to a climax in our recent report indicating his being investigated for allegedly funding pro-Biafra protests. He says he has been compelled to seek protection from the government out of fear that the desperation that has sustained those he called “evil elements” in the last five months could drive them to become even more vicious and deadly.
The “reinforced security” he seeks is for himself, his property and “all persons closely involved with me - particularly foreigners- as necessary,” the letter said.
He told Buhari that his five-month investigation reveals the masterminds of this dangerous plan” to be “a bunch of touts and hirelings with a track record of dangerous capacity to commit any harm.”
Without naming the individuals, he said they operate “as a network and recruit other elements when necessary to act as their undercover agents. They occasionally appear frontal and at other times act as if they are faceless. They are well-organized and employ multiple strategies to sustain their plans, including blackmail and spurious allegations. I have been a victim in their hands.”
He further stated that the “campaign” against him has been in phases, with the first two seeing stories published against him accusing him of corruption, and cited reports of alleged fraud in his government’s Centenary City project and other allegations.
“It was in fact, in this regard that an online platform published a Breaking News story on September 10, 2015 titled: “Muazu plots 2019 Presidential run, dumps PDP to form new party.”
Anyim said that story alleged that he was working with former PDP Chairman, Adamu Muazu and others to form a new party that would dislodge Buhari’s government in 2019.
“This false and malicious story was reproduced by many other media platforms such as Newspunch.com, Daily Post, Newsbreak etc. The clear objective was to jolt the government to pounce on me. It was also in this vein that when the Auditor-General of the Federation published a 2008 – 2012 report on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), they jumped at it to claim that I stole the alleged 183Billion Naira from NDDC.”
Anyim said “It is now necessary at this point to bring to your Excellency’s attention, a dangerous news story published by an online medium, SAHARA REPORTERS captioned: ‘Former Secretary to the Federal Government, Pius Anyim under investigation over allegations that he is funding pro-Biafra protest’ (Dec. 2, 2015).
“The story is part of this grand plan to impugn my integrity, and set me up against the Federal Government of Nigeria and other Nigerian stakeholders. Immediately Sahara Reporters published it, it was copied by many online platforms, with some even proclaiming that I was already under house arrest for sponsoring pro-Biafra protests and that I “stole” this huge sum from the NDDC while in office.
“Their strategy was to convince any simple-minded person that yes, at last, Anyim was in trouble. For this group to falsely accuse me of sponsoring protests against this nation (PRO-BIAFRA PROTEST) smacks of devilish desperation, and an absolute lack of conscience, decency and character. This has convinced me that these are persons that are determined to go to any length, no matter how vile or vicious, to achieve their evil aim. I am indeed convinced on how determined they are to carry out the third phase of their plan which consist of violent assault on my person, property and associates.
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“The second arm of this phase of their campaign is to stage hired protests against the Centenary City and myself, demanding that government should investigate me and anything associated with me. The purpose is to create an impression of public discontent in order to pressurize government to incarcerate me. An example of such protest was the one staged along the Abuja Airport road, near the Centenary City on September 13, 2015 by a rented group known as Incorporated Trustees Of Empowerment For Unemployed Youth Initiative.”
According to him, “By the blueprint of this plan, it is planned that if the actions in phases 1 and 2 above are not able to instigate government to incarcerate me and clamp down on all that I stand for, the group will take laws into their own hands and organize violent attacks on any property belonging to me anywhere they can find it. Also, they will organize to violently assault me and eventually attempt on my life”.
He urged government to verify his assertions. “It is my wish that government will through its own machinery verify all the issues raised in this letter. Government is also encouraged to uncover all the actors in this plan and bring them to book. I am sure that a profiling of their records will justify my fears,” he said.