IPOB rejects army’s camp raid claim, threatens lawsuit

The Indigenous People of Biafra has faulted the Nigerian Army over it’s claims that 13 suspects have been arrested after it raided an IPOB camp, saying that such claims were sponsored propaganda against the group.

The pro-Biafra group challenged the army to charge the 13 suspects it arrested to court or face legal action within seven days.

In a press statement released yesterday, the IPOB Spokesman, Emma Powerful, said IPOB has no hideouts, camps or terror cells anywhere in the South-East, let alone in the bushes of Delta State.

Powerful said the claims by the army is their latest smear campaign aimed at demonising IPOB before the international community and distracting from Nigeria’s fast-collapsing security situation.

The statement read in part, “The attention of the global movement of IPOB, under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the latest episode of the Nigerian Army’s now routine propaganda warfare — this time claiming to have ‘raided IPOB hideouts’ in Delta State and arrested 13 so-called suspects.

“Let us state unequivocally and for the record: IPOB has no hideouts, camps or terror cells anywhere in Biafra land, let alone in the bushes of Delta State. We are a peaceful movement of enlightened, urban-based, family-rooted indigenous people, not the nomadic bandits the Nigerian security forces are clearly more familiar with. We do not live in bushes; we own homes, build communities, and uphold values.

“This latest lie  sponsored and syndicated by the Fulani-controlled Nigerian military establishment  is nothing but a desperate, tired smear campaign aimed at demonising IPOB before the international community and distracting from Nigeria’s fast-collapsing security situation.

“While Boko Haram, ISWAP, herdsmen, and bandit terrorists continue to ravage the North and Middle Belt unchecked, the Nigerian Army is busy raiding imaginary IPOB camps in the South. How laughable. How pathetic.

“We challenge the Commandant of the said military operation to produce the 13 IPOB suspects in a court of competent jurisdiction within seven days — and not before compromised journalists or in a secret torture facility.

“If, after seven days, these suspects are not presented in open court with credible evidence linking them to IPOB activities, we shall initiate a lawsuit compelling this military commander to appear before a judge to defend his reckless lies under oath. We are not playing politics we are demanding accountability.”

“The world must understand that IPOB is not a group manufactured in the aftermath of Nigeria’s civil war. IPOB is the re-assertion of the identity of the Biafran people, a proud, ancient race that existed long before Britain cobbled together its colonial contraption called Nigeria.”

The group reminded the Nigerian public and international observers that the Biafran people are flourishing in trade, industry, and organised governance, adding that IPOB is not an organisation that will be criminalised by state propaganda. It is a divine identity.

“We therefore warn the Nigerian Army, the police, and their Janjaweed intelligence chiefs to desist from their fruitless attempts to link IPOB to criminality. IPOB has no links to violence, terrorism or crime. We do not bomb trains. We do not kidnap schoolchildren. We do not decapitate soldiers. Those are specialties of your coddled terror franchises in the North.

“Let the Nigerian state and its handlers focus on their collapsing economy, their unpaid salaries, their security implosion, and their crumbling international reputation. Stop chasing shadows in Biafra land.

“The time has come to remind the Nigerian military and those who command them that IPOB is not afraid of the courts. If you claim to have evidence, take it before a judge. If not, prepare to be taken to court yourselves. You will account for your lies, your propaganda, and the blood you have shed,” the statement added.