Only referendum can stop us – IPOB

The embattled Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Monday said that it has gone far beyond the bloody attack launched against it by the Nigeria military, police and the governors of the South-East states, insisting that only referendum would stop its agitation for Biafra freedom.

Advising its members to be patient, IPOB said it would not relent until the present government or any other Nigerian government gives it a date for referendum to decide whether its people want to continue to stay in Nigeria.

A statement in Awka by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, blamed the action of the South-East governors on jealousy assuring that, “South East governors cannot kill the Biafra idea and longing rather they are creating insurmountable problems for themselves.

“IPOB cannot and will not succumb to pressure resulting from intimidation, arrest and brutal murders going on now all over Abia, Anambra and Rivers states at the moment. In other words, we have gone too far ahead to be bothered by the sound of bullets, bombs and fighter jets waiting to rain bombs on us. Nobody can stop the agitation for Biafra freedom at this point in time, only a referendum can do that.”

The group accused the new Commissioner of Police, Abia State of trying very hard to please his “masters from the North” by allegedly “complimenting the murderous scripts of the Nigerian Army and Igbo governors as handed down to them by Abuja.”

It wondered why the Defense Headquarters (DHQ) should attack an unarmed group (IPOB) and declare it a terrorist organization when it (DHQ) did not raise an eyebrow when Fulani herdsmen with sophisticated weapons attacked and killed people in communities in Igboland.

It said, “It is also on record that till date, no police commissioner or governor in the South-East or South-South has rise against the fourth most deadly terrorist group in the world we know as Fulani herdsmen.

“When Fulani herdsmen attacked Enugu, Anambra, Ebonyi and Abia states, none of the police commissioners in these states or any of these governors now supporting genocide against their people ever uttered a word in opposition. 82 Division of the Nigerian Army at Enugu, a mere 13 kilometers from where Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated weaponry attacked innocent villagers, did not aid Enugu people. They did not storm the hideout or known settlements of Fulani herdsmen in Enugu.

“There was no stop and search of Fulani people. There were no arbitrary arrests of Fulani men. Fulani women were not carted off to be raped and dehumanized by Nigerian soldiers. Fulani leaders and Arewa North never rose up in condemnation of Fulani herdsmen. National newspapers did not carry anti-Fulani news items or articles. South East governors did not rise from any emergency meeting to label Fulani herdsmen a terrorist group or call for their activities to be proscribed.