Bleak future for IPOB as members are declared wanted.
6 min read
The Southeast Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria which is predominantly occupied by the Igbo speaking ethnic group seems to have become a new theatre of violence and attacks as the Indigenous People of Biafra’s face-off with both the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Southeast state governments seems to have escalated. The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is an organization founded by a well-known human rights fighter, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with the sole aim of realizing the independent state of Biafra from Nigeria. From the time Kanu started the organization around 2012, the group has been operating from her UK headquarters where it broadcasts news from the controversial Radio Biafra to all her followers across the world.
With a heavy presence in several countries of the world, IPOB is believed to have more than 2 million members across the world and uncountable sympathizers both in and outside Nigeria.
As the wave of Radio Biafra got to President Buhari, he instructed the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission NBC to block the signals of the human rights station. The move by President Buhari somehow backfired and made the radio station more popular as the most trending radio station in Nigeria and West Africa. The listening audience of Radio Biafra tremendously rose to high heavens. According to some sources, Aso Rock was not ok with this development and Nigerians started to expect the unexpected. On February 16, 2016, the president sacked all the media executives at the state owned media houses. The sacked media gurus included Ladan Salihu of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN. Mr. Sola Omole of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA. Sam Worlu of Voice of Nigeria, VON. Emeka Mba of National Broadcasting Commission, NBC. Mike Omeri of National Orientation Agency, NOA and Ima Niboro from the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.
In a press statement issued on February 17, 2016, IPOB claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria sacked the media executives over their inability to block the signals of Radio Biafra to the Nigerian audience especially those who have sympathy for the cause of Biafra.
The ripple effect created by the above incident was what eventually triggered a violent face-off between IPOB and the Federal Government and state governments of Nigeria especially in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. To spite the government, IPOB claimed that it had launched another Radio Biafra with a promise to launch 50 other radio stations including Daura, the hometown of President Buhari.
The aggressive manhunt for members of IPOB began nationwide. Security agencies started to clampdown at peaceful IPOB rallies and protests in Igboland. In some cases, armless protesters were shot dead and no arrests were made till date. According to an Amnesty International report, more than 150 peaceful Biafran protesters have so far been shot dead by the agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In the heat of this crisis came the invasion of Igboland by Fulani herdsmen with their herds of cattle. Farmers in the Southeastern states of Imo, Anambra, Delta, Abia and more, suffered losses worth millions of Naira in the hands of Fulani herdsmen who would intentionally guide their cattle to destroy farmlands and farm crops owned by the Igbo farmers. The Radio Biafra which never saw this development as a child’s play called on the Southeast Governors Forum for immediate intervention but no success was achieved from the call. According to Vanguard newspaper of July 1, 2020, under the title, Communities in South-East groan, as herdsmen take over farmlands, the newspaper reports that “The story is the same in Ebonyi and Imo States. In Imo State, herdsmen have unleashed terror in Oguta, Ohaji-Egbema and Orlu as well as other parts of Igbo land. And recently, the killing of Ozoemena Iriaka from Umuekpu in Agwa community in the same Oguta council area was added in the list of casualties of these murderous herdsmen. “Even the international community has rated these herdsmen as the fourth deadliest terror group in the world, yet the Nigerian authorities have kept mum.”
The report concluded that “Despite these atrocious acts, the authorities have looked the other way, maybe to create a scenario that would elicit retaliation from so that they would criminalize and annihilate us and exonerate our predators.”
The ugly trend of farmland destruction and killing of poor farmers in Igboland continued without any hindrance. Nnamdi Kanu, the founder of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra IPOB, called on the state governments in the Southeastern part of Nigeria to checkmate the trend and protect the farmers but all his calls fell on deaf ears of the government. A source which pleaded anonymity told Umuaka Times thus: “In real fact, many farmers were also killed by the Fulani herdsmen and the government still did nothing. The whole experience was so unbearable. You know, you must defend yourself. We joined IPOB just to protect our farms.”
In 2022, the youths in Imo State especially in Orlu and IPOB members were seriously angered by this ugly development. They launched a fight back mechanism. According to the findings made by Umuaka Times, one of the persons who fought the suppression and the wanton destruction of farmlands in Igboland was Mr Nwuzi Chigozie Paul, an Orlu Imo State born trader who lost all his goods in a terror attack in Jalingo, the capital city of Taraba State in 2021. Paul who joined IPOB with the aim of contributing to fight the injustice the people of Biafra have continued to suffer in the hands of the Nigerian state almost lost his life on two occasions. He was lucky enough but his fellow Biafran agitators were not; they were killed under extrajudicial circumstances by the agents of the state in different occasions. He and many other IPOB members have been declared wanted by the police.
Mr Nwuzi Chigozie Paul: Wanted for defending his farmland?
As the authorities are looking for IPOB members, many innocent persons in the region have so far lost their lives including women and aged fathers. There is a heavy police and military presence in Southeast Nigeria till date. An American returnee who spoke with Umuaka Times on the state of Southeast Nigeria lamented that “Igboland looks like a war town area as you will continue to notice the presence of military men in any state you go. This scenario does not even play out in the troubled Boko Haram states of the North.”
There seems to be a stout inability by state governments of Southeast to protect her citizens from the invasion of Fulani herdsmen. Even the police force seems to be helpless. Unidentified gunmen have in many towns of Igboland, opened fire on IPOB members and killed them in cold blood in different circumstances. IPOB as the foremost human rights body and the champion of the campaign for the total independence of Biafra in the whole of Southeast Nigeria has continued to lose its members to extrajudicial killings. Paul who refused to disclose his exact whereabouts to Umuaka Times for security reasons appealed to Umuaka Times to notify the world about what is going on in Biafraland because his name is still on the wanted list of the authorities.
Nnamdi Kanu and his parents.
Umuaka Times also gathered that Mr Nwuzi Chigozie Paul and some IPOB members who have managed to escape from the tragedy still stand the risk of being killed if they step backtheir feet to Nigeria again, unless a compromise is reached with the authorities. To prove this claim, many houses suspected to be the homes and businesses of IPOB members have been set ablaze.
The world does not in any way view IPOB as a terrorist group. The organization operates in more than 70 countries of the world including, UK, USA, Germany, Canada and other parts of Europe and more and they have verifiable offices and members. If something is not done as soon as possible, more IPOB members will either be killed or run away from the country and will never return back to their fatherland.
Umuaka Times warns that this may develop to a full blown war where innocent civilians, women and children may be mapped out for elimination if not properly controled.
