IPOB: Protesters Caution US over Meddling in ‎Nigeria’s Affairs

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Protesters under the aegis of Stand Up for Peace Movement thursday marched on the United States (US) embassy where it cautioned the US government from meddling into the country’s internal affairs.

The protesters expressed dissatisfaction over the US government disagreement with the federal government over the designation of IPOB as a terror group.

The National Coordinator of the group, ‎ Richard Augustine, while addressing the protesters at the US embassy in Abuja, ‎called on the US to respect Nigerian laws, saying Nigeria is a sovereign state which should be respected by the US.

He stated that if the US were as all powerful, they would have been able to deal with the tens of daily deaths from gun violence in their country.

According to him, “We therefore state clearly, dear United States of America, it is Nigerian laws for Nigerian interest and in this matter, it is Nigeria first and Nigeria always.”

‎Continuing, he noted that “if it (US) cannot respect Nigerian law and institutions to acknowledge IPOB as a terror organisation, the US should at the very least refrain from meddling in Nigeria’s ability to legitimately curtail the threats posed by the proscribed group.

“There is still room for the US to stand on the right side of history by either declaring its neutrality or accepting that IPOB is what Nigerian laws say it is-a terror organisation that must be immediately dismantled. The US will do well to stay out from what it is not competent to interfere with.”

Augustine said it was more ridiculous that the US Embassy was here in Nigeria all the time IPOB and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, allegedly saturated and suffocated the public space with hate speech and did not deem it fit to urge restraint.

“The Embassy was there when Kanu and IPOB bragged about possessing nuclear weapons that could decimate a third of Nigeria and it looked the other way even though we all know the same country would react each time North Korea and nuclear weapon occur in the same sentence,” he stressed.