The group called Akpabio’s recent comments in Enugu “state propaganda, political blackmail, and a failed attempt to coerce Ndigbo into submission” in a statement issued on Tuesday by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful.
Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Senate, has come under fire from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for allegedly making subtle threats against Igbo youths while claiming to be advocating peace.
The group called Akpabio’s recent comments in Enugu “state propaganda, political blackmail, and a failed attempt to coerce Ndigbo into submission” in a statement issued on Tuesday by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful.
As part of larger attempts to promote inclusion, Akpabio had previously cautioned Igbo youths against engaging in any kind of military conflict, saying that “state power will always overwhelm you.” He also hinted at the idea of establishing a second state in the South-East.
However, IPOB rejected the remarks as anything but accommodative.
Read the statement below;
“This was not a peace message. It was a threat. It was not dialogue. It was political blackmail wrapped in funeral rhetoric,”
The group emphasised that its agitation is based only on a call for a self-determination referendum and maintained that it is not involved in any military conflict.
Rejecting attempts to characterise its actions as aggressive or militant, IPOB, led by incarcerated separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, insisted that a referendum is still the “most democratic expression of political will.”
IPOB further charged that in order to justify repression, the Nigerian government purposefully misrepresented its demands.
The organization stated that such narratives have “failed for years and will fail again” and that “they frame a referendum movement as ‘armed struggle’ because the State cannot defeat its democratic legitimacy.”
Kanu’s contentious arrest and rendition were also discussed in the statement, which claimed that he was “abducted in Kenya and illegally returned to Nigeria,” a breach of international law.
The continuous legal actions against him, according to IPOB, amount to “judicial pressure and political intimidation.”
IPOB contended that the right to self-determination is legally protected and cannot be repressed by political authority, citing clauses from the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Nigerian Constitution.
“Only the people have the sovereign right to determine their political future, whether within Nigeria or outside it,” the group declared.