IPOB denies involvement in abduction of NYSC members in Imo

Demands international investigation

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The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denied any involvement in the recent abduction of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Imo State and accused Governor Hope Uzodinma of manipulating the state’s security situation for political gain. The group’s claims are unverified.

In a statement, its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, said the Biafra movement “categorically dissociates” itself from the abduction and what it called a staged “rescue” of the corps members. He said any attempt to link Biafra agitators to the kidnapping was a falsehood meant to demonise the group.

Powerful said Imo was the only state in the South-East and South-South where such incidents were recurring.

Citing what he described as intelligence from IPOB’s M-Branch, he alleged that Uzodinma was using the state’s security architecture to present himself as an indispensable security figure to President Bola Tinubu, amid friction with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The group further alleged that Uzodinma was positioning himself for the Senate presidency, along with other Igbo politicians who, it claimed, fear that the release of its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, would make them politically irrelevant.

IPOB also alleged that soldiers were abandoning checkpoints in Imo, creating security vacuums that were filled by “politically sponsored militias” who stage attacks, abductions and ransom collections to be blamed on the group.

Powerful added that criminals who previously hijacked the Monday sit-at-home order were now exploiting IPOB’s stated plan to boycott elections to commit crimes. He said the method of the boycott would be announced closer to the time.

“IPOB does not target civilians, students, or NYSC members,” he said, describing the group’s struggle as a peaceful quest for self-determination through a referendum.

The group demanded an independent international investigation into the abductions along the Onitsha-Owerri axis and into the financial trail of ransom payments.