The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the Army of “concocting the propaganda that the peaceful and unarmed IPOB activists abducted a Nigerian soldier sent to Biafra land to spy on the Biafran movement and forced him to call for the resignation of Biafran soldiers in the Nigerian Army.”
In a statement issued Wednesday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the self-determination group alleged that the “propaganda from the Nigerian Army spokesperson claiming that IPOB captured a spying Nigerian soldier and forced him to deliver a message to ‘Biafran’ soldiers serving in the Nigerian Army to resign, is a self-staged crime by Army’s leadership.”
“Although IPOB has called for ‘Biafrans’ serving in the Nigerian security agencies to resign, IPOB has never forced and will never force our brothers and sisters in the Nigerian security agencies to resign their positions,” IPOB stated.
“IPOB can only appeal to the conscience of Biafrans but will never impose anything on anyone under gunpoint or duress. The Biafra Nation IPOB is championing, which is a nation where the rights of persons are guaranteed and respected, not as obtainable in a lawless and irredeemable zoological Republic called Nigeria, guides our people through reasoning.”
Insisting that it had nothing to do with the purported abduction of a Nigerian soldier, the pro-Biafra group sneered that “the so-called video of an abducted spying soldier captured and forced to call for the resignation of ‘Biafran’ soldiers from the Nigerian Army is another false flag operation by the Nigerian Army and their agent provocateurs to continue their murderous onslaught against Ndigbo.”
“The Nigerian Army has reduced itself to a mere social media gossip group,” IPOB stressed in the statement by Powerful, emphasizing that it did not abduct any Nigerian soldier.
“The Army spokesman should stop linking IPOB with their criminal agents in their efforts to destabilize Alaigbo. IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu have no relationship with the so-called Biafra Liberation Army. IPOB does not have any Army and will never have an army until Biafra is restored. IPOB only operates the Eastern Security Network (ESN), which is an armed Vigilante Group against marauding Fulani terrorists ravaging our farmlands,” the statement protested.
“We maintain our stand that the infamous BRGIE and her criminal gang called Biafra Liberation Army are the creation of the Nigerian government through DSS to blackmail IPOB. That is why when these criminals are used to stage any crime, the Nigerian Army and Police quickly rush to the media and tag their violent activities on IPOB-ESN.
“The call by the Nigerian Army to the ICC, UN, and Amnesty International to take action against IPOB is null and void because these responsible institutions know the truth about IPOB’s activities around the globe. These global institutions operate under international laws and respect the rights to self-determination.
“At the same time, IPOB has not violated the laws and principles governing self-determination. These institutions also understand that the IPOB movement is non-violent. They understand that IPOB is being persecuted by the corrupt Nigerian government and her murderous security agencies. These institutions have an avalanche of evidence of the Nigerian government’s repression of peaceful IPOB members. These institutions have refused to take bribes from the Nigerian government to join in the blackmail of the self-determination struggle championed by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the IPOB movement.
“The Nigerian government and her murderous security agencies should stop blackmailing IPOB. Should IPOB decide to confront the Nigerian security agencies, they will understand that IPOB is formidable and a force to reckon with. The Nigerian Army should not take our non-violent approach as weakness. Our non-violence approach is our respect to the internal laws and principles governing self-determination, not a weakness.”
