A rights group, Federation of Nigerian Activists (FENA), has expressed great worries over the dangerous activities perpetrated, allegedly by the proscribed Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) in Igbo land, leading to killing, kidnapping of people as well as disruption of business activities in the land, declaring that the organization had “lost its original purpose and must be stopped before it makes the whole of Southeast totally ungovernable.”
Convener of the group, Comrade Mark Adebayo, gave this stand in reaction to the latest development in Southeast region, expressing doubt whether the original plan of the organization was to turn into a terrorist machine against the Igbo people, even as he quickly noted that the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu would not be happy about it.
“IPOB has lost its original purpose and must be stopped before it makes the whole of Southeast totally ungovernable,” he declared.
Gunmen, suspected to be enforcing IPOB every Monday sit-at-home order, had in recent time heightened attacks in the region as it continued to strongly demand for the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who has long been in detention, following his ongoing trial for secessionist moves.
Comrade Adebayo, while making the call that IPOB be stopped now, quickly recalled that he was in support of the group at the initial stage, hoping that its agitation for a separate state of Biafra was “a genuine liberation struggle which I considered legitimate agitation in a country where some folks have superiority complex against the rest of us.”
The rights activist, however, said he had since changed his mind as, according to him, “a genuine, altruistic struggle born as a reaction against injustice has been hijacked by sophisticated criminal forces whose actions cannot be deemed anything other than terrorism.”
“They are killing their own people. They’re raping their own people. They’re kidnapping their own people for ransom. They rob. They destroy properties. They attack innocent children in writing exams in their schools. They impoverish their own people by stopping them from doing their businesses for a whole day thereby killing their businesses. They decapitate their own people in a most horrendous way. They have made the Southeast a ‘no-go area’ for many of their own people.
“As against their culture, Igbos now bury their dead in other lands where they live and do business for fear of being killed or kidnapped. IPOB’s criminalities hurt the Igbos more than any other ethnic group in this country. How do you kill a people you claim you’re fighting to liberate? It doesn’t make a single strand of sense,” he stated.
Speaking further, Comrade Adebayo, who is Co- Spokesperson of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), however, said there was need for a political solution on the case of Nnamdi Kanu, urging that the Federal Government should seriously consider releasing him and thereafter crush any group that claimed to be IPOB.
“I doubt if the original plan was for IPOB to turn into a terrorist machine against the Igbo people. But that’s what it has become. I doubt if Nnamdi Kanu would be happy about this.
“But that’s what it has become. I doubt if Nnamdi Kanu would be happy about this,” he said.
“Moreover, in order to stop all secessionist agitations, restructuring Nigeria has become an unimpeachable reality in order to give each geopolitical zone in this country a sense of justice, equity and belonging,” he added.
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