TheNewsGuru

Tag: IPOB

  • Army/IPOB clash: South-East Governors’ forum sets up investigative panel

    Army/IPOB clash: South-East Governors’ forum sets up investigative panel

    The South-East Governors’ Forum has set-up a 7- man committee to investigate the recent clash between the Nigerian Army and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) members in Umuahia.

    Mr Michael Udah, the forum’s Director of Media and Communications, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the committee was expected to submit its report during the forum’s meeting scheduled for Sept.15.

    Udah did not mention the leader of the committee, but said that it was set-up to proffer lasting solutions to such problems and forestall future occurrences.

    “Reports in the social media that the governors condemned the alleged attack on IPOB members are false, but instead, they are working assiduously to bring lasting peace and stability to the zone.

    “I did not tell any medium on the social and print media that the governors condemned the incident as they would soon meet to review the situation,” he said.

    Udah said that the governors were consulting with relevant stakeholders in the zone including the military to ensure clarity of positions.

    “I urge my colleagues in the media to exercise decorum in their reportage to avoid creation of false and embarrassing impressions about sensitive national issues,” Udah said.

     

     

    NAN

  • BREAKING: Army continues crackdown on IPOB, agitators cry for help [Video]

    The Nigerian Army has continued its operation against agitators of Biafra, kidnappers among others despite several criticisms leveled on them over the recent invasion of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu’s residence.

    Recall the group, IPOB led by Kanu has been very vocal against the Nigeria state in its secession clamour.

    In a video shared by an IPOB member, one Somto Okonkwo on Facebook, members of group were seen in the video blocking the street leading to Kanu’s house while soldiers are seen parading the area.

  • Video: Nnamdi Kanu speaks on alleged invasion of his home, says ‘Nigeria is pushing us to war’

    The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu on Monday claimed that the Nigerian government is provoking the group to war with the alleged invasion of his country home in Umuahia on Sunday by operatives of the Nigerian Army.

    The IPOB leader spoke while addressing the press on Monday.

    Recalling the event, Kanu claimed the Nigerian Army drove toward his house while shooting indiscriminately at people protesting and asking what they were coming to do.

    He explained that three people were shot and have since been taken to a secure location where they are receiving treatment.

    When asked about his reaction to the police and army’s denial of the attack, Nnamdi Kanu said it was characteristic of the Nigerian Government to lie, and they should not be believed.

    “They want us to become armed, so that the world can say Nnamdi Kanu is leading a violent armed group. Which is not the case.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Army had since denied the invasion insisting its personnel fired warning shots to disperse members of IPOB who lobbed stones and broken bottles against them during a procession in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

    “The attention of 14 Brigade Nigerian Army has been drawn to fictitious news going round especially on the social media that troops have invaded the home of Nnamdi Kanu and killed three persons.

    “This is far from the truth. Rather, it was a group of suspected IPOB militants that blocked the road against troops of 145 Battalion while on show of force along FMC-Word Bank Road in Umuahia town, Abia State at about 6.00-6.30pm, today. They insisted that the military vehicles would not pass and started pelting the soldiers with stones and broken bottles to the point of injuring an innocent female passerby and a soldier, Corporal Kolawole Mathew.

    “The troops fired warning shots in the air and the hoodlums dispersed. No life was lost,” the Army said in a statement signed by Oyegoke Gbadamosi, a major and assistant deputy spokesperson of the 14 Brigade.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Kanu had on Sunday in an interview with newsmen accused the soldiers of storming his home in an armoured tank and about three Hilux vans loaded with heavily armed soldiers.

    He added that the soldiers shot sporadically as they approached his father’s compound, causing panic and among residents of the area.

    Kanu said the soldiers wanted to gain entry into his father’s compound but that IPOB members quickly formed a human shield around the compound and stoutly resisted them.

    Kanu wondered why the army wound wants to invade his home when he had yet to receive any invitation from any security agency.

    He, however, insisted that no amount of intimidation would make him abandon the struggle for Biafra independence.

    In his words: “I was sleeping this evening (Sunday) when suddenly I was woken up by the blaring of sirens. Initially, I thought it was the Commissioner of Police who lives in the neighborhood that was returning home. But the blaring persisted and was followed up by sporadic gun shots.

    “The soldiers wanted to bulldoze their way into the palace but IPOB members formed a human shield and resisted them. They wanted to break the shield and fired at three persons and wounded others before leaving. Everybody including children was running away in confusion.”

    However, in a swift reaction, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Leye Oyebade denied any form of attack on Kanu home. “There was no attack on the home of Nnamdi Kanu,” Oyebade said.

    “What happened was that the military was parading a new armoured carrier and passed through Nnamdi Kanu’s residence.

    “It was while they were passing that some people threw stones and other things at them,” Oyebade explained.

  • Biafra: Pandemonium in Abia as IPOB, soldiers clash in bloody battle

    There was tension in Umuahia, the Abia State capital on Monday night as members if the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB allegedly engaged soldiers in a bloody battle.

    The incident which was said to have occurred at the popular Isi Gate spilled to other parts of the state capital, causing unrest amongst residents and visitors alike.

    According to a report by The Nation the ensuring pandemonium forced many business owners and traders within the city center to abruptly close their shops over fear of arrest or being caught up in the crisis which has literally shut the city down.

    While information about the report remains sketchy, a version of the incident has it that some soldiers stationed at Isi Gate were collecting money from commercial tricycle operators and when one of the operators refused giving them money , one of the soldiers slapped the commercial tricyclist.

    The situation degenerated into a fight when members of the union in solidarity with their member engaged the soldiers in a brawl.

    Another version of the incident claimed that the soldiers at a checkpoint around Isi Gate stopped a commercial tricycle operator and demanded that the driver should hand over to him the Biafra and IPOB insigma in his tricycle, but the driver refused.

    The situation, it was learnt degenerated into a heated argument which attracted crowd and the soldiers on seeing that the area was already charged, shot into the air to scare people, but the crowd overpowered them and injured some of them in the process.

    At the time of filing this report, it was gathered security agencies have flooded the state capital with their men on the alert to prevent total breakdown of law in the city.

    A source at the Aba Area Command told newsmen that their men have been properly briefed to be on alert at some of the flash points in the commercial city and be vigilant of movement of persons who may wish to stir up the peace of the town.

    The Coordinator of IPOB in the State, Mr. Ikechukwu Ugwuoha said that he was yet to be properly briefed about the incident.

    But a member of IPOB who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the soldiers shot at and injured some of the people who had remained peaceful and were appealing to the soldiers to release the tricyclist to go about his business since they couldn’t find anything incriminating on him.

    The 14Brigade Ohafia Public Relations Officer, Major Oyegoke Gbadamosi disclosed that some of soldiers were injured and were in an undisclosed hospital where they were receiving medical attention.

    He denied that the soldiers fueled the crisis, alleging that their operational vehicle was damaged by the crowd.

    However the State Commissioner of Police, CP Adeleye Oyebade said the situation was under control insisting there was no cause for alarm. In his words: “We are on top of the situation. We will contain the situation. There is no cause for alarm. All hands are on deck to co continually sustain the peaceful atmosphere we have labouredly tirelessly to achieve so far in the stat

  • We will resist plan to re-arrest Kanu —IPOB

    We will resist plan to re-arrest Kanu —IPOB

    Following the plan to revoke the bail condition given to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has vowed to resist any plan by the Federal Government to re-arrest him, the group has condemned the move, describing it as “a dangerous path of intimidation and smacks of state-sponsored terrorism designed to silence free speech.”

    This came as the pan-Igbo group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, faulted the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malamin, over plans to revoke Kanu’s bail, as it said the IPOB leader was free to hold any view however displeasing to anyone.

    In a statement by its publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, on Saturday, IPOB said whatever issues government had against the group and its leader should be presented before Justice Binta Nyako on October 17, when the matter would resume in court.

    The group also called for the arrest of the Arewa Youths who issued quit notice to Ndigbo in the North, saying it would not accept a situation where there “is one law for Arewa North and another for the rest” of the country.

    “Merely asserting that Kanu is a threat to the Nigerian government is not a crime unless accompanied by legally definable crime or offence.

    “Before Muhammadu Buhari-led administration decides to make a move to arrest our leader, he must first go to court to obtain a court order or else it will be resisted by millions of IPOB members.

    “As soon as the illegal, unconstitutionally draconian conditions of the bail were spelt out by Justice Binta Nyako, we knew such a day would come when they will use the cover of broken bail condition to launch an attack.

    “But we are assuring him that our leader, Mazi Kanu is spiritually and mentally prepared for this epic battle. He is not afraid of being locked up without trial as long as his personal physician will be allowed to visit and attend to his medical needs.

    “In dictatorial and totalitarian regimes such as we have under this APC government, outspoken critics are often imprisoned without trial. So, this undemocratic and illegal approach to resolving the thorny issue of Biafra self-determination championed by IPOB is to be expected.

    “Our teams of local and international lawyers are following the developments closely. That Nigeria is dangerously close to the brink of collapse today is a direct result of the first illegal arrest and detention of Kanu, arresting him again will plunge Nigeria into an unimaginable crisis.

    “Should Justice Nyako choose to listen to Buhari and revoke the bail application granted Kanu during his appearance on the 17th of October 2017, IPOB will ensure 100 per cent compliance with the Anambra State election boycott order. Those advising Buhari must caution him that he stands to be remembered as the dictator that crashed Nigeria.

    “It is quite understandable that our leader Kanu is the arrow-head and mouthpiece of the resurgent Biafra movement, re-arresting and keeping him in detention without trial does not and cannot change anything, instead it will hasten the calamitous uncontrolled collapse of Nigeria.

    “Those politicians goading and encouraging him along this path of destruction must learn from history. IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu cannot be locked up indefinitely without trial because the consequences of such an action will most certainly bring Nigeria to a chaotic end,” the statement said.

    In a statement by the President-General of Ohanaeze, Chief John Nwodo, the pan-Igbo group said the move to revoke Kanu’s bail was a wrong approach by the Attorney-General of the Federation,” urging the AGF to respect his office.

    The statement read in parts: “It has just been brought to my notice that the Attorney-General of the Federation has approached the courts to incarcerate Kalu for flouting his bail conditions.

    “I am amazed that the distinguished attorney is prepared to contest the superiority of the provisions of the constitution on fundamental human rights of freedom of movement and freedom of association over an erroneous judicial proclamation violating those rights.

    “I am equally miffed by the audacity with which the Attorney-General displays his bias without regard to his oath of office.

    “A few hours ago, under the watchful eyes of the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and in total defiance of the Head of State’s proclamation of the rights of a citizen of Nigeria to live anywhere in Nigeria and to do business anywhere in Nigeria, the Arewa Youths, pretending to withdraw their quit notice, gave qualifications to the Head of State’s proclamation, issuing conditions for enjoyment of citizenship status.

    “These same Arewa youths are supposed to have been arrested on the orders of the Governor of Kaduna State and the Inspector General of Police for acts of treason, conversion and sedition.

    As the chief law officer of the Federation, the Attorney-General looks the other way. He did not go to court to seek an order of arrest or prosecution.

    “I and some Igbo leaders have differences of opinion with Nnamdi on a number of issues. We have been insulted and abused by Radio Biafra, but we concede them their right to differ from us. We concede them their nature to be exuberant as youths but we cannot be judgmental about their rights,’’ the statement said.

  • IPOB rejects withdrawal of quit notice, asks Igbo to leave North

    Indigenous People of Biafra has rejected the withdrawal of the quit notice issued to Igbo in the Northern part of the country by the Arewa youths.

    The Arewa youths, under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Groups, had ordered all Igbo residing in the North to vacate the region before October 1, 2017.

    Speaking through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, IPOB asked the Arewa youths to ‘stick to the quit notice’, if they have any ‘honour’.

    The group equally urged all Igbos and other Southerners resident in the core North to discountenance the withdrawal of the notice and return home.

    IPOB noted that history had shown that the withdrawal of the notice does not mean that Igbo lives and property are no longer endangered in the North.

    “It is inconsequential to IPOB whether the ‘quit notice’ was rescinded or not because it will in no way impact the pace and direction of our effort to restore Biafra.

    “Threats don’t have any effect on us, so our advice to the Arewa North is to please stick to the October 1 deadline or else they have no honour.

    “We urge all southerners in the core North to return home before October 1 as history will most definitely repeat itself.

    “Southerners were massacred in the pogroms of 1966 and 1967 after similar assurances were issued then that people should remain in the North,” the IPOB spokesman said.

    The pro-Biafra group alleged that the ‘quit notice’, which it described as an incitement to genocide, was endorsed by Northern political leaders.

    “The presence of a serving governor and senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the supposed press briefing confirms what we have always known that the incitement to genocide, which is what the ‘quit notice’ is all about, has the blessing of the Arewa political class,” Powerful said.

    Just as the Arewa youths have insisted on the re-arrest of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB also urged the Federal Government to arrest leaders of the Northern group.

    “If President Muhammadu Buhari is at all serious about clamping down on hate speech, he should arrest those behind the ‘quit notice’ along with their sponsors,” IPOB said.

    “Trying to drag the name of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, into their unintelligent blood fest will be resisted.

    “If the idea is to cow our leader with calls for his arrest, then those behind the genocidal edict of ‘Igbos must leave the North’ are even dumber than we thought.

    “Nigeria is crumbling today before our eyes due to the arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu; those wishing for him to be arrested again are basically signing the death warrant of Nigeria,” the secessionist group added.

    Vowing that IPOB would not relent in its quest to restore Biafra, Powerful stressed that the group was not afraid of what he described as the ‘fabled Fulani hegemonic juggernaut’.

  • Provide evidence of your agreement with Ojukwu – IPOB

    The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said President Muhammadu Buhari supported the break away of Western Sahara from Morocco and the self-determination demand of Palestinians but has condemned calls for the Independent State of Biafra.

    The group described Buhari as a hypocrite.

    IPOB said this in a statement in Awka, Anambra State, signed by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful on Tuesday.

    The attacks come hours after President Muhammadu Buhari had said Igbo leader, late Chukwuemeka Ojukwu agreed Nigeria must be united in a private meeting with him.

    It asked Buhari to provide proof of where the agreement was made.

    The group’s statement read,” Interestingly enough, there is a well-circulated video of President Buhari addressing the 70th summit of the United Nations General Assembly in New York where he stated unequivocally that no nation, no matter how small, should be denied the right to self-determination.

    “Buhari in his characteristic hypocrisy failed to mention the fact that he is a staunch campaigner for self-determination for Palestine and Western Sahara. This same Buhari is the major … and backer of Western Sahara campaign to break away from Morocco.

    “The question that must be answered is why it is possible for Buhari to champion the cause of self-determination for Muslims in Israel and Morocco but not so for Biafrans who are Judeo-Christians in the British-created Nigeria?”

    The group added, “During his uninspiring nationwide broadcast littered with dictatorial proclamations, the only take away point in the entire turgid show of shame is that Nigeria must remain one; primarily because the dominant cabal which he represents does not want to lose their stranglehold on the finances of Nigeria.

    “His hypocritical threat to deal with IPOB members, who are legitimately going about their self-determination efforts without recourse to violence, is indicative of his natural hatred for Christians and indigenous ethnic groups that make up Biafra. It is unfortunate that some people in this mere geographical expression called Nigeria are yet to understand that Biafra is an issue that is bigger than any man.

    “We find it laughable that Major General Muhammadu Buhari will embark on the futile journey of deceiving the general public about his brief encounter with Ojukwu in 2003.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari and other government functionaries, especially politicians, should stop deceiving themselves about the true nature of the raging Biafran agitation because they cannot provide any incontrovertible proof or verifiable evidence where the agreement was made between Buhari and Chief Ojukwu to keep Nigeria one. And they should stop calling Ojukwu’s name.”

  • News Hour 22-08-2017 I TNGtv

  • Anambra election won’t hold, IPOB insists

    Mr. Darlington Chukwubuikem Okolie, the media aide to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has denied a report that IPOB has withdrawn its threat to stop the governorship election scheduled to hold in Anambra State in November.

    There was a report that the leader of Alaigbo Foundation, Uzodinma Nwala, disclosed after a meeting with Kanu that negotiation with IPOB was ongoing on other matters.

    Refuting the report, Okolie stated that IPOB had not changed its initial position of boycotting the Anambra election on November 18.

    In a statement made available to newsmen, Okolie said, “Whoever said that [there has been a shift in IPOB’s position] is telling lies. The media is fond of spreading falsehood about us. Kanu can never go back on his word.

    “There will be no election in Anambra. There is nothing anybody can do about this. Any media that is reporting that Kanu has withdrawn his call to boycott Anambra election is simply publishing false reportage.”

    Kanu’s media aide also revealed that there would be a mass rally on August 19, adding that Kanu would use the event to openly declare his position that the governorship election must be boycotted.

  • BREAKING: IPOB, police, army clash in Anambra, one feared dead

    There was pandemonium in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State on Wednesday as the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, clashed with police and soldiers leaving one person dead.

    The fracas was instigated by a planned visit of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to the area in furtherance of his anti-election campaign in the state.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Kanu and his IPOB members had said that the November 18 poll in the state would not hold if the Federal Government does not oblige them a referendum to determine the fate and plausibility of a Sovereign State of Biafra.

    As early as 8am on Wednesday, security operatives made up of soldiers, police and other paramilitary agencies had converged on Ekwulobia.

    “The security operatives came in 14 trucks. But despite the heavy presence of security in the area, the IPOB members were still parading the area, singing and chanting Biafran songs.

    “The Biafran flags, caps, shirts and other items being sold by some youths were seized and burnt by the security operatives.

    “The situation angered the IPOB members and they tried to attack the security operatives who tear-gassed everybody and in the process, one of their (IPOB) members was killed,” a source who would not want to be identified told our correspondent.

    The Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Nkeiruka Nwode, in a press statement denied any death during the encounter.

    She confirmed presence of security operatives in the area, saying that it was to avoid breach of peace.

    She said “There was nothing like that (death). The presence of the security men was to secure the people of the area from being attacked by hoodlums.

    Her statement read in part, “A complaint was received by the police that there was a gathering and blockage of road by some people at Central School, Ekwulobia in Aguata LGA.

    “The Police with other security agencies on joint patrol went to the scene, dispersed and cleared the road peacefully without any clash.

    “However, normalcy has been restored and people are going about their business without any threat or molestation.”

    As of the time of filing the report, Kanu had not visited the place as scheduled.