Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has taken a critical assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s policies in the last one year, saying he has wittingly and unwittingly encouraged the rising wave of agitations for Biafra’s self-determination through his actions.
Aside from IPOB, the nascent Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has joined the clamour for self-determination, calling for an independent Niger Delta region just as IPOB is agitating for an independent Biafra.
In a statement issued by the duo of Emma Mmezu and Dr. Clifford Iroanya, IPOB spokesmen, the group said the president “has significantly catalysed and fast-forwarded the restoration of the nation of Biafra.”
According to IPOB, “Without the efforts of Buhari, the crescendo reached today on the return of the nation of Biafra would not have been possible,” citing “the genocidal killings of Biafrans from August 2015 to February 2016, and to the utter disregard of court orders.”
The pro-Biafra organisation noted that former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, had, by ignoring it, made it irrelevant but his successor, Buhari “has steadily and consistently worked in the favour of the re-emergence of Biafra” by haunting pro-Biafra activists.
Buhari has vowed that he would crush any group with separatist tendencies, adding that Nigeria would never be allowed to disintegrate under his watch, but IPOB said the president’s propensity to resolve every problem with force was already working against the unity of Nigeria.
“There are several factors that propelled Buhari to quicken the restoration of Biafra,” IPOB said, citing the “despotic” attitude of President Buhari and “the misinformation he received from his incompetent Department of State Services (DSS) that deceived him into believing that incarcerating the leader of IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, will work in his favour.”
IPOB said: “From his (Buhari) terrible public utterances to his divisive and sectional government policies, through his placement of only Hausa-Fulani people in his ‘kitchen cabinet’, to the killing of Biafrans and Shiite Muslims, Buhari has worked tirelessly for the balkanisation of Nigeria. There is also his belief in using weapons and brute force to solve simple political problems. IPOB is happy for this leadership style for Buhari.
“We pray that he continues unceasingly. Even the illegal incarceration and unconstitutional prosecution of the leader of IPOB have worked maximally to the favour of Biafrans. We urge Buhari to continue and not to stop because we want to see the independent nation of Biafra come very soon and Buhari is speedily bringing it to fruition.”
