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•Asks, “where was the terrorism?”
From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has issued a new press statement questioning the events that led to its proscription in September 2017, demanding that Nigerian authorities produce evidence of terrorism between August and September of that year.
In the statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, the group led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, revisited the chronology of events in the South East in 2017.
IPOB recalled that on August 30, 2017, the South East Governors Forum held a peace meeting with Kanu in Enugu. The meeting was described, at the time, by then Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, as a peace engagement. The group stated that Kanu’s demands at that meeting were centered on development and economic renewal for the region.
The demands included: Reopening and revitalisation of the Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri seaports, and dredging of the River Niger with a port at Onitsha/Asaba, direct international flights from Europe and the United States into Enugu, Port Harcourt, and Calabar, completion of the 2nd Niger Bridge, upgrading of Owerri Airport into a functional cargo airport, functional railways, reliable electricity, primary healthcare, and revival of abandoned industries to create employment.
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The group said Kanu also demanded respect for court orders, release of detainees, including Sambo Dasuki and Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and investigations into killings of IPOB members. The statement then pointed to September 14, 2017, when it alleged that the Nigerian military invaded Kanu’s home at Afaraukwu, Umuahia.
IPOB noted that a day later, on September 15, 2017, the South East Governors Forum announced the proscription of IPOB activities. The group said the resolution announcing the proscription also appealed to then President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw the military from the South East and called for investigations into killings. On the same date, September 15, the Nigerian military categorised IPOB as a terrorist organisation, the statement recalled.
IPOB further cited the intervention of then Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on September 18, 2017, who, it said, declared that both the military’s categorisation and the governors’ proscription did not follow due process and were unconstitutional.
The group is now asking the Nigerian government, South East political leaders, and the international community to answer what it called a simple question: “what terrorist activity occurred between the August 30 peace meeting and the September 15 proscription?
“Show us the evidence,” the statement said, urging the public to examine the record of the peace meeting, Kanu’s stated demands, the military operation at his home, the subsequent proscription, and the constitutional objections raised at the time.
