The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) stated on Wednesday that it is fighting to liberate the Southeast from Nigeria and achieve the establishment of an independent Biafran state.
IPOB was responding to remarks attributed to the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, concerning the group’s agitation.
In a statement directed at Musa and the National Security Advisor, Nuhu Ribadu, IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, emphasized that the group was formed to defend the interests of the Biafran people and to lead their peaceful exit from what he described as an “Igbophobic” nation, referring to Nigeria.
According to Powerful: “The Directorate of State (DOS) of the global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) wishes to put the records straight with particular reference to General Christopher Gwabin Musa, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, and his fellow unity beggars in Nigeria, that IPOB is agitating for the freedom of the Biafran people and the sovereignty and independence of the Biafra Nation.
“The very careless statement attributed to the military general, who is without any war experience and incidentally, but sadly, is the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, shows that he does not know the aim and objectives of IPOB.
“He claimed that he does not know what IPOB is fighting for. The hypocritical Army General said that IPOB is fighting for its selfish interests, not for the interests of the people of the Southeast. That’s the height of hypocrisy within the Nigerian government circle.
“They claim ignorance of everything. If the Nigerian government and its murderous security forces claim that they do not understand what IPOB is fighting for, they should ask the International Community to educate them. A bunch of vicious and deceptive hypocrites in the Nigerian government cannot deter IPOB’s resolve to restore Biafra’s independence.
“NSA chairman Nuhu Ribadu should know that IPOB is fighting legally both locally and internationally, so the Nigerian government’s effort to blackmail IPOB through its officials, both civilian and military, is an effort in futility, as such cannot stop Biafra agitation.
“IPOB was formed to defend the interests of the Biafran people and to champion its peaceful exit from the ‘Igbophobic’ nation called Nigeria. For an ethnic bigot like General Christopher Gwabin Musa to claim that IPOB is not fighting for the people of the Southeast Region shows his level of bitterness against the movement. He is just venting his anger on IPOB for forming ESN, which has dislodged and will continue to dislodge their Fulani agenda in Biafra land.
“The Nigerian Army has used violence and highhandedness to try to intimidate IPOB into submission, all to no avail. Now, other Indigenous Peoples in Nigeria are begging God Almighty to give them a group like IPOB.
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The current strategy of using social media to demonize IPOB is dead on arrival because IPOB is the people, and the people are IPOB. The Nigerian government using the military and police to harass and intimidate Biafrans not to publicly support IPOB in Nigeria doesn’t mean that over 95% of Biafrans are not fully behind IPOB’s agitation for Biafra independence.
“Other ethnic groups in Nigeria are also in support of IPOB. If the Nigerian Government and its General think that IPOB is fighting for its own interests, let them fix a date for a Biafra Referendum, as demanded by IPOB, to prove their claims.
“IPOB is a non-violent freedom-fighting movement seeking Biafra independence from a pariah state called ‘the zoo’ Nigeria. IPOB is not and will never create insecurity in Biafra Land. Instead, IPOB, through ESN, has curtailed the terrorist activities of state-sponsored Fulani terrorists, bandits, and other state-sponsored criminals. For public records, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police, and the Nigerian DSS are largely responsible for the insecurity in the Southeast Region.
“The notorious Nigerian security agencies are the ones sponsoring the activities of Fulani terrorists in our land. The same Nigerian security agencies also sponsored the agents provocateurs who are committing all manner of crimes in Biafraland. These sponsored criminals turned their guns against Ndigbo in order to make the Biafra agitation unattractive. We are very much aware of the covert operations of the DSS against IPOB.
“If General Musa and the Nigerian government think they can use the activities of those they sponsored to create insecurity in Biafraland against IPOB, they better think again, because they will continue to fail. We challenge the terrorist-sympathetic government of Nigeria and its notorious security agencies to stop sponsoring those agent provocateurs in the Southeast Region and see if insecurity will not stop in the Southeast. Violence and terrorism are alien to Ndigbo.
“Dear General Christopher Gwabin Musa, his brother Nuhu Ribadu, and the Nigerian Government under Alhaji Bola Tinubu, if you claim that you do not know what IPOB stands for, go and read the Fundamental Objectives of IPOB, maybe then you will understand what IPOB is fighting for, and perhaps you will hearken to the voice of reason and act wisely.
“Every Nigerian and the International Community knows that IPOB is a self-determination movement that wants to restore the stolen sovereignty of the Biafran Nation.”
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