IPoB Denies Allegations of Attacking Truck Drivers, Accuses Northern Protesters of Sponsored Blackmail
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) has vehemently denied allegations that its members attacked Northern truck drivers transporting goods to the South East, describing the claims as a sponsored attempt to blackmail the group. The denial comes in response to a protest staged by truck drivers in Jos, Plateau State, who accused IPoB of targeting their members in the South East.
In a statement issued on Monday by IPoB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, the group dismissed the accusations as “fallacious and sponsored propaganda.” The statement, titled “Northern Truck Drivers Sponsored to Blackmail IPoB,” questioned the logic behind attacking truck drivers who supply goods to the region.
“The attention of the global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) has been drawn to the fallacious and sponsored protest staged in the Northern city of Jos, Plateau State, claiming that IPoB attacked truck drivers in the South East,” the statement read.
IPoB accused the Nigerian government and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) of orchestrating the protest to tarnish its image. “The Nigerian government and its sponsored terrorist drivers have accused IPoB of killing truck drivers from Northern Nigeria who were transporting goods to the South East. The false accusations by the so-called NURTW truck drivers in Jos, Plateau State, are another calculated blackmail and fallacious propaganda against IPoB,” the statement added.
The group emphasized that it has no reason to attack truck drivers who play a vital role in supplying goods to the South East. “For a decade since IPoB started, we have been confronted with various state-sponsored blackmail and media propaganda aimed at portraying IPoB as a violent movement. As God lives on His throne, IPoB has surmounted all accusations and lies against it by the government and blackmailers,” the statement continued.
IPoB reiterated its commitment to non-violence, stating that neither its members nor its security wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), engage in attacks or killings. “IPoB and ESN members are not violent and do not engage in attacking or killing people. We cannot confirm any attack or killing of truck drivers in the South East Region. We assume that such a claim by the sponsored protesting drivers in Plateau State is unfounded,” the group said.
The statement further questioned the motives behind the allegations, asking, “Even if such an incident happened, why would IPoB members or ESN operatives attack innocent truck drivers conveying goods to our region? Do the so-called attacked truck drivers pose any threat to IPoB’s movement?”
IPoB accused the Nigerian government of refusing to engage in dialogue and instead resorting to covert measures to undermine the group. “IPoB’s only crime against the Nigerian state is our demand for self-determination via a referendum. Instead of dialoguing with IPoB and our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, the Nigerian state deployed various covert measures, including sponsoring insecurity and violent crimes in the South East to blackmail and demonize us,” the statement read.
The group also alleged that those behind the protest in Jos are the same individuals sponsoring insecurity in the South East. “Those that sponsored the touts they called truck drivers in Plateau State to falsely accuse IPoB of attacking and killing their members in the South East are the same people sponsoring insecurity in the region,” IPoB claimed.
The statement concluded with a call for the public to disregard the allegations, describing them as part of a broader campaign to discredit IPoB’s peaceful struggle for self-determination.
The allegations and counter-allegations highlight the ongoing tensions between IPoB and the Nigerian government, as well as the complex dynamics surrounding the group’s activities in the South East.
