From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has raised the alarm over what it termed as unlawful razing of houses and properties of its members by criminals who are impersonating the Nigeria security agencies.
Spokesperson of the group, Emma Powerful, in a statement, yesterday, has also alleged that the hoodlums are not different from terrorists who unleash mayhem in the southeast.
He said: “It’s obvious that the Nigeria Security agencies parading in Biafra territory are not regular professional security agents, but terrorists recruited into the Nigeria Security Services to terrorise Biafrans.
“The impostor security agencies leave the same footprints like terrorists, such as burning of houses, worship centres, markets, cars, abductions for ransom, and killing of innocent villagers.
“They are no different from terrorists. The world should recall that IPOB raised the alarm when the government recruited terrorists, which they referred to as repentant Boko Haram terrorists.
“The so-called repentant terrorists were recruited and sent to Biafra land to destroy our livelihood and our people. Some of them are involved in snatching cars from innocent Biafrans and sending the cars to Alhajis in the North, as seen in the recent viral video from arrested Fulani soldiers.
“These terrorists in Nigeria security uniforms are brainwashed to hate Ndigbo, and they have laid siege to Alaigbo. Their agenda is to put the IPOB membership tag on any criminal in Biafra land in order to kill them.
“In the case of their political opponents and wealthy Igbo people, they tag them IPOB sponsors. Even innocent Igbo youths are not spared.
“They can randomly abduct innocent youths, tag them IPOB members, and demand them to pay hundreds of thousands of naira or millions to buy their freedom or get jailed or worse, possibly be extrajudicially killed.
The tribal bigot government of Nigeria is only sympathetic to terrorists, but repressive to Biafra’s self-determination movement, led by IPOB. They have killed and jailed many IPOB members and sympathisers, but have released arrested terrorists and compensated them with Nigeria security jobs to continue their killing career.
“As of today, no terrorist or Fulani herdsman that they branded bandits is on trial, irrespective of all the mass killings these murderous groups have carried out. How can such a barbarian government stop Biafra agitation? It will be better that the entire Biafra youths are killed than Biafra not to come to pass.
“IPOB members are not terrorists to be hunted. Known terrorists like Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, ISWAP, and other northern sponsored terrorists don’t have local and international offices and lawyers like IPOB.
“They should stop tagging individuals’ IPOB sponsors. No single person can sponsor IPOB. IPOB is sponsored by its members scattered all over the world through our freewill contributions. IPOB is simply an army of volunteers who are putting in their resources for the liberty and freedom of our people.
“We, therefore, call on the Nigeria government to unconditionally release our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is being held illegally in the DSS dungeon, and schedule a date for the Biafra referendum,” Powerful stated.