The Indigenous People of Biafra has dismissed the IEP Global Terrorism Index Report of 2022 as a conspiracy by the Federal Government and some other foreign agencies to blackmail and demonise the group.
The pro-Biafran group was reacting to the report by the Institute for Economics and Peace, which had rated it number 10 “deadliest terror group”.
In a statement on Thursday, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said it was disappointing that a reputable organisation such as IEP would descend so low to publish “fictional and inaccurate accounts in their 2022 terrorism index report”.
IPOB said an extract from the report released by the global research group showed a great contradiction from what was supposed to be assumed as a research and investigatory group.
Powerful, therefore, insisted that IPOB remained peaceful but resolute in the pursuit of Biafra liberation through a UN-supervised referendum, adding that they were not going to be distracted by sponsored blackmail and propaganda.
The statement read in part, “In the IEP’s Terrorism Index Report of 2022, the current Federal Government was cleverly portrayed as having improved in counter-terrorism while in reality the terrorists have become more emboldened during the period.
“According to the report, the total dead due to terrorism in Nigeria for 2022 is 448, which in the lowest level since 2011. This is concocted falsehood. In one state such as Benue alone the Fulani sponsored terrorists have killed more than 400 civilians. The report, as it relates to Nigeria, showed a full script from Nigeria Government handed over to the institute for publication.
“In the same report, IPOB was mentioned as the third most violent group that has caused civilian deaths. We challenge IEP to present irrefutable evidence where IPOB killed any person in Nigeria. On the contrary, there are many verifiable evidences, both in print and social media, on the massacre and extrajudicial killings of many IPOB members by Nigeria security agencies since 2017.
“We are here to tell our own stories to the world with facts and figures. We advise the US government to stand as a global human rights defenders to defend the right of every world citizen and not join the oppressors to abuse the rights and privileges of ordinary citizens.”
“Irrespective of all these illegal arrest, detention, torture, extrajudicial killings including extraordinary rendition of our leader, IPOB have remained peaceful in the face of all these high levels of provocation. Nigeria Government is pushing the narrative that IPOB is the aggressors but in the reality we are the victims of oppressive Government.
“As evil and wicked as the Federal Government of Nigeria and in their desperation to blackmail peaceful IPOB struggle, they have sponsored armed groups claiming to be IPOB who were paid to commit all manner of crimes in the Eastern Region so as to shop evidences to blackmail IPOB.
“We have in several press releases distance ourselves from those criminals being led by agent provocateur in Finland. Their actions and inactions has nothing to do with IPOB nor Mazi Nnamdi KANU. Some gullible IPOB’s members who joined them were dismissed from the movement.”