The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, denied yesterday that its members were planning to destroy some police stations in Aba, Abia State, saying the allegation was part of a plan hatched to arrest and detain more members of the group.
This came as scores of youths yesterday stormed Lagos, to kick against the country’s dismemberment; urging the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other ethnic groups behind the moves to limit their demands within the confines of the law, even as they argued that demands could be achieved through dialogue, rather than through violence which often leads to loss of lives and property in the country.
A statement by IPOB media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, accused Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of being part of the plan, adding that the plan was a cover to kidnap and abduct innocent Biafrans under the pretext that they were the perpetrators of some heinous crimes in the city. He said: “IPOB has never engaged in any crime of any sort from its inception to date.
There is no police station that can claim to have received any complaint of lawlessness or crime allegedly committed by IPOB. “Our rallies and evangelism are all done in full view of the public and well attended within communities with no single recorded adverse incident till date. IPOB has never been involved in any retaliatory attacks or killing of any human being because we believe, along with our ancient values, that life is a rare gift from God, which is not in the place of man to take.”
Youths decry secession At a gathering organized by a youth group, NaijaDay Foundation, yesterday, in Lagos, with the theme ‘Significance of peace and unity in Nigeria’, put in place to commemorate Nigeria’s 57th independence anniversary, the youths also urged government at all levels to keep their quota of responsibilities, so as to ensure adherence of peace and unity among citizens, especially youths.
The 2017 Mandela-Washington Fellow and Director, Prisoners Right Advocacy Initiative (PRAI), Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, while addressing the youths, warned agitators to desist from hate speech while demanding for their rights in the country, just as he cautioned against overheating the polity with various hate moves.
He implored Nigerians not to share every post on social media because a lot of them were written to cause discord amongst Nigerians, stressing that every Nigerian needs to be armed with correct information and shun gullibility. “We all possess innate weapons to fight intolerance and hatred, let’s use it. Most of the people sponsoring and leading the clamour for war will jet out of the country if it happens and the common man who has blindly followed them would be made to suffer,” Adetola-Kazeem added.
He stressed that whenever war occurs in a country, the nation would metamorphose negatively and may not regain its potentials several years after the crisis might have ended. “The rich will become poor, children will become orphans, wives transformed to widows, landlords of palatial homes will become refugees who will queue for food. “Rather than fighting ourselves, we must fight that peace may reign.
It is impossible for all of us to agree on the same thing but it is possible for us to be tolerate one another.” For Publisher, Checkout Magazine, and a United Kingdom (UK) based journalist, Lekan Fatodu, pocket of violence within the country, which was due to agitations from the regions for secessions, restructuring and others, indicated that it was time to make peace a national mantra.“We are aware that Nigerian security operatives have little or no regard for human life as is their custom and tradition ably demonstrated over the centuries through a series of well documented pogroms.
“ Igbo governors, who are essentially Hausa Fulani stooges in government houses across the South East are doing their damned best to turn global opinion against IPOB. However, civilized nations and countries around the world know that IPOB under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is not and can never be a terrorist organization. “The APC government of Nigeria headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, in collaboration with Governors Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Willie Obiano and others, is making every effort to tarnish the impeccable global standing of IPOB.
“This latest evil plot, already perfected, is designed to legitimize even more brutal deaths, arrests, torture and detention without trial at the hands of Nigerian soldiers and police. Okezie Ikpeazu, in his jealousy fuelled vendetta against IPOB, has unwittingly turned hitherto peaceful Abia State to a killing field for blood thirsty Islamic Jihadists from Arewa North, who are hell bent on spreading Islam to every nook and cranny of Biafraland.
“IPOB is therefore calling on all conscientious and civilized men and women, lovers of freedom, the international community especially USA, EU, Britain, Russia and France, to intervene to stop this horrendous ethnic cleansing going on in Abia State, for the sake of humanity. “The scale of killings going on is a tragedy of immense proportions and until the world brings this to a halt, injustice will continue to reign supreme in Nigeria.”
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