The South East secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has rejected the United States of Biafra declaration by a group identifying itself as the Biafran Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE).
The declaration on Friday November 29, amid much fanfare in Finland, established the new nation with 40 Confederate states. It occurred just days after the self-styled Prime Minister of BRGIE, Mr Simon Ekpa, was taken into custody by the Finnish authorities for questioning.
IPOB’s Strong Disapproval
But IPOB says it has no part in the “shambolic scam and a charade” and that it stood by an earlier declaration referred to as the Ahiara Declaration of May 1967 by then Military Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu. He was to after then transmute to Gen. Odumegwu Ojukwu as Head of State of the defunct republic.
In a robust statement released on Sunday, December 1, on behalf of IPOB, its spokesman Emma Powerful, said any attempt to redeclare Biafra’s sovereignty was “untimely and unnecessary.” He asserted, “There is no room for another Biafra declaration besides the one our eternal leader, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, declared in 1967.“
“He and other Biafran men and women fought gallantly in an unprepared genocidal war to defend the declared territory of Biafra for three years.“
IPOB said they are focused on demanding a UN-supervised referendum for Biafrans to decide their political future in a peaceful and orderly self-determination. “This is the only legitimate way to achieve Biafra’s independence,” he said.
Biafra has been declared as a sovereign nation. Today 29.11.2024 in Finland. Known as Finland declaration 2024. pic.twitter.com/VQ1y2J4Ytm
— Betty Forde (@BettyForde9) November 29, 2024
Powerful warned that those involved in the Finland Declaration are “criminals, uninformed, and fake agents” who the “blood of the fallen heroes of Biafra will chase and hunt them down.“
IPOB Commends Nigerian Media
The secessionist group, often at odds with the mostly pro-Nigerian media, commended it this time for ignoring BRGIE’s declaration “because they did not exist.“
“This press release is to keep the record straight and to disassociate IPOB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from the idiocy exhibited in Finland called the Biafra second declaration. The Finland Biafra declaration is a pure scam by some agent provocateurs,” the group insisted.
However, the Friday declaration trended widely on social media, receiving mixed reactions from many Eastern Nigerians who were surprised by it.
In Nigeria, IPOB is banned, let alone BRGIE, and its agitations are usually brutally suppressed, but they tend to receive warm welcome in several countries around the world.
Their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is still standing trial on terrorism charges since 2021, charges he vehemently denies.
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