IPOB Slams FG Over Rivers, Benue Killings
BY RAPHAEL ONYEKACHUKWU, ENUGU – The banned separatist organisation, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leadership worldwide has condemn the recent harassment and continued killings in Igweocha area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The embattled movement also condemned the on-going slaughtering of innocent citizens by alleged Fulani terror herdsmen in the Middle Belt areas of Benue, Kaduna, Nassarawa and Taraba States.
In statement issued on Wednesday by its head of Media and Publicity, Comrade Emma Powerful, IPOB said it is condemnable for security agencies to kill innocent citizens in Rivers State over what it termed searching for so-called cultists in the riverine areas of Biafraland.
The IPOB statement said it is troubling that Nigerian Army, in collaboration with a few disgruntled and unscrupulous politicians in Rivers State and other parts of Biafraland, have made it their duty to expose “our people, mostly our youths, to danger and unwarranted death, since the inception of this APC Government led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari”.
It further alleged that the recent humiliation, killings and massacre going on in Igweocha is politically motivated and orchestrated by the Nigerian Government and her security operatives, especially the Army, Police and DSS, to depopulate the region of vibrant youths, the only group that is capable of checkmating marauding Fulani herdsmen.
“We are still wondering why the Nigerian Government could not send soldiers to the aid of its citizens in Benue, Taraba, Kaduna and other states where Fulani herdsmen are rampaging and massacring innocent citizens with impunity. We are certain that Aso Rock merely ordered the IG of Police to relocate police headquarters in Abuja to Benue to provide cover for these murderous Fulani herdsmen and help them consolidate their hold on new territories they are now occupying”, the statement said.
Noting that the killing of the innocent people has become the norm under President Buhari-led APC government, IPOB accused leading world media organization like CNN, FOX, BBC, AL JAZEERA, NBC and ABC among others for conspiratorially silent over the horror shows currently playing out in pre-dominantly Christian towns and villages as perpetrated by the rampaging Fulani herders.
IPOB, which attributed government’s seeming indifference to the fact that those being killed are not Muslims, said; “We are bombarded daily with news about the suffering of Rohingya people and threats of economic and military sanctions against Myanmar but something far more sinister is happening in Nigeria and especially Biafraland with no iota of coverage from leading media houses around the world because those being killed in Nigeria are non-Muslims. Only when Muslim populations are affected do we see international condemnations and sanctions.”
“If the Nigerian government and her security agencies are sincere about tackling the menace of murderous Fulani herdsmen, they must also deploy soldiers to Benue, Kaduna and Taraba States with the same shoot-at-sight order they readily apply against peaceful Biafra agitators.
“It is understandable to all that the recent gangland style execution of those coming back from Cross River State on New Year’s day was masterminded by Fulani herdsmen and rogue security operatives in order to give local youths a bad name to hang them, which is now happening. The world must wake up to the threat that Fulani terror herdsmen represent before it’s too late”, IPOB warned.
