The Indigenous People of Biafra has described the comments by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), that the group was responsible for pipeline vandalism in the country as “laughable, disgraceful and fallacious”.
The secessionist group reminded the President that his Western audience already knew who the pipeline vandals are in Nigeria.
In a statement on Wednesday, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said for Buhari to tell the United States and other Western countries that IPOB was responsible for pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta showed he was “shallow-minded” and “uninformed” on the goings-on the country.
Powerful added that the President only chose to advertise his ignorance and the failure of his government in credible intelligence gathering by making such “wide” and “untenable” allegations.
He challenged Buhari to show the world the locations of the pipelines IPOB vandalised in the country.
He said, “Maybe the Fulani-controlled Federal Government of Buhari doesn’t know that the Western nations are not as daft, uninformed, kleptomaniacs and clueless as he thinks, otherwise, he would not have made such embarrassing factless claims.
“The President should be reminded that his Western audience already know the actual culprits behind pipeline vandalism in Nigeria and who the beneficiaries are. What a contradiction and confusion in Buhari’s Nigeria!
“In case he has forgotten as usual, just last week, his Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps boss threatened to name high-profile Nigerians behind oil theft. Did the NSCDC boss need to issue such a threat assuming IPOB a ‘terror organisation’ according to Buhari’s Nigeria is actually the ones behind the crime?”
The statement also added that IPOB, since its formation about 12 years ago has never been involved in pipeline vandalism, except it’s freedom struggle, adding that the President was just being hypocritical in his comments.
It added that Buhari looked away while the Fulani herdsmen continued to wreaked havoc by terrorising, massacring Nigerians on a daily basis.
It urged world leaders to stop paying attention to the Buhari-led government, adding that the government is living on a borrowed time.
“Inviting Buhari to a security meeting in Rwanda is like asking the Hyena to participate in a discussion on the wellbeing of the antelope. Buhari’s government has failed woefully as far as securing the lives and properties of Nigerians is concerned so, therefore, has nothing to offer on security matters and discussions,” it said.
The statement read in part, “Going to Bloomberg news and parroting falsehood against IPOB won’t save Buhari and his co-travelers from being prosecuted at the International Criminal Court at the appropriate time.
“Buhari should be told that the West understands that his anger with IPOB is simply because IPOB remains the only obstacle to the evil agenda of the Fulani herdsmen trying to overrun Nigeria and declare it an Islamic State. That is why it is only in Nigeria that IPOB, a peaceful movement with a presence in over 100 countries is tagged a terrorist organisation.
“Buhari and his kangaroo court delivered a black market judgment against a peaceful movement seeking freedom for their people, without looking into his Fulani kinsmen’s activities of eliminating none Fulani in the country.
“Buhari and his wicked cabals refused to declare Fulani terrorists masquerading as herdsmen manhandling, rapping destroying communities and killing innocent citizens of Nigeria. He refused to declare them terrorists, but begging kept on begging the Western world to declare IPOB.
“One thing is certain, IPOB will hunt down those terrorists masquerading as herdsmen in Biafran bushes and forests.
“Whatever allegations they like let them fabricate. We can’t abdicate our divine mandate of defending our ancestral land against FULANI occupation.
“Buhari and his Fulani-controlled Federal Government of Nigeria sponsored insecurity in the Eastern region and blamed it on IPOB thinking that the world is unaware of the activities of Fulani and his military men deployed in our territory.
“The world is watching everything happening in Nigeria and IPOB members will stand firm because we won’t allow them to take over our ancestral lands. They have done that between 1967-1970 when they committed genocide against innocent Biafrans because Biafrans wanted to liberate themselves from the bondage Britain put us into by forcing disparate Nations with totally different value systems and cultures together in the contraption called Nigeria.
