The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Wednesday, condemned what it called the “All Progressives Congress-led federal government’s media manipulation and false narratives linking Simon Ekpa to it to derail Nnamdi Kanu’s trial.
Kanu is the leader of IPOB and has been in custody facing trial for alleged treason.
The Spokesperson/Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Comrade Emma Powerful, stated this in a press release he made available to THE WHISTLER in Enugu.
IPOB, in the statement, called on the public, the global media, and the Biafran populace “to reject the deliberate falsehoods peddled to undermine our legitimate struggle for self-determination and to suppress the truth about our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.”
He alleged that the APC government was trying to establish the link between IPOB and Mr Ekpa to derail the upcoming legal proceedings of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and “to drown out the global outcry over the Nigerian state’s atrocities against the Biafran people”.
Quoting the release, “The APC government has once again resorted to its age-old tactic of sponsoring fake news and manipulative propaganda. The recent surge in reports falsely claiming that the Finnish Court has approved the extradition of Simon Ekpa to Nigeria is a glaring example of this orchestrated scam.
“This fabricated narrative, suspiciously timed to coincide with the visit of Igbo veterans to Capitol Hill to brief the U.S. State Department on the ongoing massacre of defenceless indigenous populations in Nigeria, is no coincidence. It is a calculated move to divert attention from the Nigerian government’s human rights abuses and the just cause of Biafran self-determination.”
Powerful clarified that Simon Ekpa “is not, and has never been, a member of IPOB”, adding that Ekpa “publicly declared on multiple occasions that he operates independently, leading a criminal gang known as the Biafra Liberation Army (BLA)”.
Quoting Powerful, “This group has no affiliation with IPOB or the disciplined, non-violent struggle for Biafran emancipation led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Ekpa’s BLA is a proxy tool manipulated by Nigerian politicians, particularly within the APC, to sow chaos, perpetrate violence, and sabotage the credible efforts of IPOB. His self-confessed role as a ‘content creator’, as admitted in a Finnish court, further exposes his lack of legitimacy and his true motive as a paid agent provocateur.”
IPOB, therefore, warned the media, both local and international, to stop falling prey to such news, adding that any person, group, or entity promoting or peddling news about Simon Ekpa as a representative of IPOB “is complicit in the APC government’s agenda to distort the truth and perpetuate injustice”.
He stated further, “The timing of these false extradition reports, immediately following the Igbo veterans’ engagement with the U.S. State Department, is a stark reminder of the Nigerian government’s desperation to control the narrative and silence the voices calling for justice and freedom.”
Powerful said that IPOB remained resolute in its non-violent pursuit of Biafran self-determination through a United Nations-supervised referendum.
“We will not be distracted by the antics of hired criminals like Simon Ekpa or the APC government’s propaganda machinery. We urge Biafrans and the global community to be vigilant, to question the sources of such news, and to reject any attempt to conflate IPOB’s lawful struggle with the actions of state-sponsored saboteurs,” the statement added.
IPOB warned that no amount of media manipulation or fabricated stories would deter the movement or suppress the truth about the Biafran cause, vowing that the Nigerian state would be held accountable for its alleged crimes against the Biafran people, including the illegal detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the ongoing genocide in our land.
IPOB called on the international community, human rights organisations, and all lovers of justice to expose and condemn Nigeria’s tactics of deception, adding that “the Biafran struggle is a noble quest for freedom, and no amount of falsehoods will extinguish the flame of our resolve.”
