Biafra: IPOB Replies PANDEF, Other Groups, List 13 States In Nigeria Make Up Igboland
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has said the ancient Igboland community covered 13 Nigerian states, adding that anyone seeking to come into Biafra was welcome.
IPOB also discredited a recent declaration in Finland as a “shameless attempt to discredit” its legitimate struggle for Biafra’s independence.
The group, in a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, clarified that the event was staged by “a bunch of morons” and sponsored by detractors to undermine IPOB’s global reputation.
“All those in positions of power in Nigeria that sponsored this joke called declaration in Finland in the hope of damaging the global standing of IPOB should cover their faces in shame,” the statement read.
IPOB accused those responsible of elevating an individual who allegedly declared himself as a prime minister from “a one-bedroom flat on the 20th floor of a housing project somewhere in Finland.”
Addressing claims from certain Igala groups and PANDEF dissociating themselves from Biafra, IPOB called such statements “pathetic but laughable,” reiterating that ancient Igboland spans 13 Nigerian states.
“These are not areas occupied by Igbo-speaking people but are ancient Igboland with Igbo people in them,” IPOB emphasised.
The group criticised the political reconfiguration of Igboland, which it said was designed to limit its geographical scope.
“The hate-inspired, politically motivated gerrymandering of borders in Igboland… is a lie this IPOB shall confront until the truth is not only acknowledged but acted upon via the instrumentality of a United Nations-supervised referendum,” the statement declared.
Reassuring other ethnic groups, IPOB reaffirmed that no tribe or clan would be forced into Biafra.
“Our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is on record as having said repeatedly that no ethnic group, tribe or clan will be forced to become part of Biafra,” the group stated.
According to IPOB, Biafra will adopt a confederacy model similar to Switzerland and the UAE, with governance based on consent through a democratic process.
“There can never be any government or prime minister without the consent of every Biafran, willfully expressed in a widely accepted democratic process,” it noted.
IPOB dismissed the Finland declaration as a mockery, accusing its sponsor of never visiting Biafraland or engaging in meaningful activism.
“The fact that a buffoon… decided to make a mockery of himself and his sponsors should not become the lens through which the legitimate agitation for Biafra independence championed by IPOB should be viewed,” the statement concluded.
Comrade Emma Powerful reaffirmed IPOB’s commitment to achieving independence through peaceful and lawful means, stating that no amount of “subterfuge, deceit, lies, murder, kidnapping or persecution” would derail their mission.
The statement reads in parts, “Those leveraging on this disgraceful episode in Finland by a bunch of morons, should be guided in their utterances because it has become apparent that these traducers and agents of oppression have gone into overdrive in their quest to ascribe unjustified importance to an event that was in essence a joke and a shameless attempt to discredit the genuine agitation of IPOB for an independent homeland for the people of Biafra.
“The myriad of statements purportedly emanating from some of these recruited faceless individuals on social media and belatedly from alleged Igala groups and PANDEF, disassociating themselves from Biafra is not only pathetic but laughable. For the thousandth time, we wish to make it abundantly clear that ancient Igboland spans 13 states of Nigeria.”
