Pro-Biafra group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has reacted to the threat by President Muhammadu Buhari to stamp out any agitation towards the realisation of Biafra, saying the president is not in tune with prevailing realities.
In a conversation, the spokesman of the group, Emma Powerful, explained that members of the group have long been facing intimidation and annihilation in the hands of Buhari with scores, including minors, locked away in prisons across the country without trial, under the most inhuman conditions.
He, however, stated that, “No matter what they do or how many people they kill, no man born of a woman can stop the realisation of Biafra. Biafra is a spirit and once it gets hold of you, nothing can shake it off. We have already come a long way and almost within reach of our goal and somebody is threatening to shut down the Biafran struggle. It’s a big joke because ideas do not die. Buhari should look back in history and learn.”
Peeved by the spate of ‘state-sponsored lawlessness’ across the country, Powerful regretted that all the courts in the land had granted their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, bail, but the President and his men have chosen to be the prosecutor, judge and jury in their own case.
“By elevating lawlessness to an act of state, what moral justification does Buhari have to stop any section of the country from seeking self-determination?
“If you notice, Buhari, since assumption of office, have not come out in any public function to threaten he will stamp out Boko Haram, he has even offered amnesty to the bloodthirsty band of killers.
“But for all pro-Biafra groups, like IPOB and MASSOB, that bear no arms and are not known to have killed anybody, he is threatening to stamp us out. It is obvious Mr. President has more sympathy for Boko Haram than the non-violent pro-Biafra groups,” Powerful fumed.
IPOB stressed that there is no justice in Nigeria, lamenting that there are different laws for different regions of the country.
“We have therefore resolved long ago to live as free men under a just government in an independent Biafran state and Buhari knows that no force of arm can stop that. They may have delayed it, but they cannot stop it.”