False Narrative About IPOB Has Made Nigeria Government Lose Int'l Value - Evang Elliot Uko

Evangelist Ugochukwu Elliot Uko

A Southern Leader of thought, Evangelist Ugochukwu Elliot Uko, has blasted the government of Nigeria for concocting lies against the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The Nigerian government through its military had declared IPOB a terrorist organization, stating reasons which prompted it to do so, among which included the allegations that IPOB force people to pay tax; mount roadblocks; snatch guns from soldiers and use dangerous weapons like sticks and stones to fight the military.

But the Igbo leader, Elliot Uko, who is also the Secretary to the Eastern Consultative Forum, in an interview with Vincent Kalu of Sun Newspaper, refuted the claims of the Nigerian government, stating that such attempt to term IPOB a terrorist organization with those lies concocted against it has belittled the Nigerian government, making people lose respect for it.

He said that the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, has made the government of Nigeria, a lying machine with the kinds of lies he blows (both inside and) outside the country.

He told Vincent that contrary to the lies of Lai Mohammed and the false narrative of the Army and the government of Nigeria, IPOB doesn't collect tax from anyone and even it does, it is the people that would complain and not Lai Mohammed, and such complaint has not risen up in Biafra land.

He said in part "...The government using the oil resources has penetrated the media to air its false narratives about IPOB, hoping that they would stick. They didn’t realize that those lies are making people lose respect for the government.

"When Easterners watch Lai Mohammed lie in the UK, they lost respect for the central government, and the Information minister because they knew he was telling blatant lies, as IPOB doesn’t collect a tax, doesn’t snatch gun, are not ritualists and they don’t block roads.

"Because IPOB has a huge following, the authorities felt that Kanu was removing the carpet under their feet, and in order to stop him, Lai, would go to the UK, and begin to tell blatant lies.

"IPOB unlike what Lai said wasn’t collecting tax from anybody, if they were collecting a tax, the people should be the ones complaining, not Lai Mohammed. Nobody in the East has said IPOB collected tax from him or her except Lai Mohammed who lives in Abuja. He has turned this administration to a lying government. The government is belittling itself by telling lies just because they want to stop Kanu," he said.

By Mazi Edozie