The Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) Friday threw its weight behind Federal government’s military show of force in the South East through its body called Python dance 11, presently taking place particularly in the remote villages around Umuahia the Abia State capital, saying that it was the responsibility of security agencies to take on the challenges threatening the peace of the country in whole or in part. 
According to NEF, some agitations have been going on in the South East for quite a while and that the military has a constitutional role, mandate as well as instructions to what to do in terms of what was on the ground there.
Speaking with Journalists Friday in Abuja, former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University and Spokesman of the Northern Elders’ Forum, NEF, Professor Ango Abdullahi who accused the apex Igbo organization, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo of being the mastermind of the agitations all along in the South East by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB led by Nnamdi Kanu, said that the present position of the Ohaneze was a vindication of the position of the Arewa Youths.
On his take on the army, IPOB Clash in the South East, Ango Abdullahi said, “My take is that it is the duty of the security agencies to take on any challenges threatening the peace of the country in whole or in part . It is the responsibility of one of the security agents in the country and they have a system of taking command in terms of where they go and where they don’t go,what they do when they get there and so on and so forth. So I take it that the military are where they are now for obvious reasons.
“I believe the military are there in the north east,they are dealing with issues of insurgency and Boko Haram. I believe we have military personnel in the Niger Delta for various reasons and this particular engagement of the military where the exercise of the dance of the python .
