The Indigenous People of Biafra have slammed the IEP Global Terrorism Index Report of 2022 as a plot by the Federal Government and other foreign agencies to extort money from the group and portray it as a villain.
The pro-Biafran group was reacting to the Institute for Economics and Peace’s ranking of it as the 10th “deadliest terror group” in the world.
Emma Powerful, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, said in a statement on Thursday that it was disappointing that a respected organization like IEP would publish “fictional and inaccurate accounts in their 2022 terrorism index report.”
According to IPOB, a portion of the global research group’s report showed a significant incongruity with what was assumed to be a research and investigatory group.
Therefore, Powerful insisted that IPOB maintain their peace while remaining steadfast in their pursuit of Biafra liberation through a UN-supervised referendum and stated that they would not be distracted by sponsored blackmail or propaganda.
According to a portion of the statement, “The current Federal Government was cleverly portrayed as having improved in counterterrorism in the IEP’s Terrorism Index Report of 2022, while in reality the terrorists have become more emboldened during the period.”
Related News The IPOB denounces those calling for no election in the South-East. The IPOB has no plans to attack banks in the South-East. The IPOB is not interested in elections and wants a referendum. A spokesperson for the IPOB said, “According to the report, the total number of deaths due to terrorism in Nigeria for 2022 is 448, which is the lowest level since 2011.” This is fabricated nonsense. Over 400 civilians have been killed by Fulani-sponsored terrorists in just one state, Benue. Regarding Nigeria, the report displayed a complete script that the Nigerian government had given to the institute for publication.
The IPOB was listed as the third most violent group that has killed civilians in the same report. We challenge IEP to provide unquestionable evidence of any Nigerian killings by IPOB. In contrast, there are numerous verifiable evidences, both in print and online, that Nigerian security agencies have murdered and extrajudicially killed numerous IPOB members since 2017.
“We are here to recount our own accounts to the world with raw numbers. We advise the US government to act as a global human rights advocate to protect the rights of all citizens of the world and not join the oppressors in taking advantage of ordinary citizens’ privileges.
“In spite of all these high levels of provocation, IPOB have remained peaceful in the face of all these illegal arrests, detentions, torture, and extrajudicial killings, including the extraordinary rendition of our leader. In reality, we are the victims of an oppressive government, despite the Nigerian government’s efforts to promote the narrative that IPOB is the aggressor.
“As evil and wicked as the Federal Government of Nigeria is, they have sponsored armed groups that claim to be IPOB and were paid to commit a variety of crimes in the Eastern Region in order to shop evidence for blackmailing IPOB. This was done in their desperate attempt to sabotage the peaceful struggle of IPOB.
“We have distanced ourselves from those criminals in Finland led by agent provocateur in several press releases.” Both IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi KANU have nothing to do with their actions or inactions. They were kicked out of the movement for joining them were some gullible IPOB members.