The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has alleged that Biafrans of Igbo extraction in Benue State have been abandoned and rendered defenseless in what it described as a pogrom by Fulani Islamic Jihadists.
In a statement made available to journalists on Friday in Awka by IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the group described the situation as heart-breaking.
IPOB said important questions must be asked as to why governors Dave Umahi, Rochas Okorocha, Okezie Ikpeazu, Willie Obiano and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi with the support of Ohaneze Ndigbo President-General, Chief Nnia Nwodo, “publicly and illegally announced the proscription of IPOB when they knew the threat Biafran communities in Benue faced from Fulani terrorists.”
The statement reads: “There are four local government areas in Benue State namely, Ado, Oju, Okpoku and Obi that is quintessentially Biafra, of pure Igbo extraction.
“No Igbo politician, Ohaneze Ndigbo or governor has ever fought for these communities, they surrendered to the North after the war, to be reintegrated with Enugu or Ebonyi State as it should be.
“They (Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo political class) are afraid of offending their Hausa Fulani masters that gerrymandered our people away from the East and made them Northerners overnight by placing them in Benue State. Today these Igbo communities, Ukum local government, Obi local government, Ogu local government and Okpokwu local government areas are being hunted like wild beasts by Fulani terrorists in their Igbo ancestral lands with nobody rising to their defence.
“The proscription of IPOB by the Hausa-Fulani slaves in red caps and their active support for Operation Python Dance was what gave impetus to Fulani terrorists disguised as herdsmen to attack Biafran communities in Benue with such ferocity and impunity.
“Knowing fully well that only IPOB had and still has the capability to checkmate these bands of marauding killers from the Sahel, why did Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo governors proscribed IPOB activities in the manner they did? It is clear whose interest they were serving when they banned IPOB activities across Igboland.”
IPOB further called on Ebonyi State Governor and his Enugu counterpart as well as the Ohanaeze President-General not to openly or covertly sabotage ongoing efforts by IPOB to protect indigenous Igbo Biafrans in Benue State.
The group noted that if they do, it will confirm to the world that they are helping the Fulani caliphate consolidate their stranglehold on Igboland in particular and Biafraland in general.
Continuing, the statement said: “Should Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo governors in any way undermine our efforts to defend our people in Benue, it would be confirmation that they have outlived their usefulness and must be proscribed because their continued existence is putting our survival as a race in jeopardy.
“Those we are defending are ethnic Igbo people they Ohanaeze Ndigbo wrongfully allowed to be carved into Benue State. These indigenous communities in Benue State are known as the Umuezeokoha people.
“In the past, some misinformed people sponsored by Arewa Consultative Forum/Northern Elders Forum like Paul Unongo ignorantly spoke about IPOB trying to annex other people’s land in Benue State. Both him and his controllers from the Sahel failed to recognise the sizable amount of Igbo land that were cut off from the East and placed in the North as northern communities.
“IPOB will not abandon or surrender any single Biafran community in Benue State as was the case in the past. Idoma, Igede and Umuezeokoha people are all Biafrans and deserve our protection.”