Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement, Fredrick Nwabufo, has warned against what he described as attempts to romanticise criminals in the south-east.
His caution follows the life sentence handed to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), after his terrorism conviction.
In a post on X on Friday, Nwabufo reflected on what he called the grim period when residents and security personnel in the region faced violent attacks linked to IPOB.
He urged people in the south-east to place law and order above sentiment to sustain peace and development.
“Every family has a tale of blood, pain, and loss brought on by the violence of the proscribed group. Not so long ago,” he said.
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Nwabufo added that Nigeria’s advancement requires a firm, non-political stand against criminality, noting that “nations thrive on crime and punishment, law and order”.
He said with the south-east gradually regaining stability, the country must draw lessons from the past and avoid “resurrecting Frankenstein’s”.
“I believe our nation will be a better place if we do not always apply ourselves to the lure of making a case for criminals, setting politics or whatever sentiments aside. Nations thrive on crime and punishment, law and order,” he said.
“It is reductive to hang the security and peace of the South-East on the same convict, who, by his artifices and machinations, only a few years ago unleashed a vicious bloodletting in the zone.
“The South-East is witnessing renewed peace and the return of development and businesses. It is wise that we learn from history about the consequences of resurrecting Frankenstein’s.”
