From Emmanuel Uzor, Awka
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described as reckless and unguided a statement credited to Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, over plans of the Federal Government to end insecurity in the South East Zone.
IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, in a statement, accused President Bola Tinubu’s government of planning genocide against Igbo
IPOB was reacting to the recent visit of the vice president to Abia State where he was quoted to have said Tinubu’s government would end terrorism in the South East.
“The vice president didn’t condemn the barbaric murder of innocent Christians in Plateau State, the Fulani terrorists, herdsmen nicknamed bandits, but had the temerity to talk about state-sponsored insecurity in the South East. The whole world knows that the South East has been the most peaceful region in Nigeria, according to the United Nations peace index report.”
Powerful alleged that those responsible for the violent crimes and kidnappings in the South East were the “Federal Government of Nigeria’s sponsored Fulani herdsmen, bandits and some misguided Igbo criminals hired just to blackmail Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the IPOB movement.
“The only way President Tinubu can stop insecurity and insurgency in the South East region is to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Every Tom, Dick and Harry need to calm down and start checkmating the criminals in our midst.
“There will be no peace in the south East until Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released. The following conditions should be met; they should release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from DSS solitary confinement because everyone in the Southeast is behind him.
“Dismantle all the military and police checkpoints stationed across the South East to harass, extort, kidnap and kill innocent people at any little provocation. Until these dangerous checkpoints on our roads are removed, there will be no peace.”
He further accused the Federal Government of using media to hype and promote insecurity in the South East while playing down the terrorists’ activities in the North, adding that there have been bubbling peaceful Christmas seasons in the region.