The Indigenous People of Biafra has denied allegations of attacking and killing northern truck drivers in the South-East, dismissing the claims as “false accusations and calculated blackmail.”
This comes in response to a protest staged by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Jos on Sunday.
The demonstrators accused IPOB of targeting truck drivers transporting goods to the South-East and called for justice for the victims.
Addressing journalists, the Plateau State Coordinator of Heavy Trucks, Janedu Ahamad Zaki, condemned the attacks, describing them as “senseless and barbaric.”
He urged the government to deploy security personnel to the region to protect northern truck drivers and their goods.
However, IPOB’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, in a statement on Monday, dismissed the accusations as government-sponsored propaganda aimed at demonising the group.
“The attention of the global IPOB family has been drawn to the fallacious and sponsored protest in Jos, claiming that IPOB attacked truck drivers in the South-East,” Powerful stated.
“For over a decade, IPOB has faced various forms of state-sponsored blackmail and media propaganda designed to portray us as a violent movement.
We have survived numerous accusations, including kidnappings, extrajudicial killings, and political assassinations falsely linked to IPOB.”
Powerful reiterated that IPOB and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network, do not engage in violence or attacks on civilians.
He questioned the logic behind such accusations, stating: “If such an incident truly occurred, why would IPOB or ESN target innocent truck drivers supplying goods to our region? Do these drivers pose any threat to our movement?”
He further alleged that those behind the accusations were the same individuals responsible for fueling insecurity in the South-East.
“The protesting truck drivers claimed that their members were attacked along routes such as Enugu to Lokpanta, Lokpanta to Okigwe, and Okigwe to Umuahia. These are the same routes where IPOB has previously raised alarm over the activities of armed herdsmen colluding with northern soldiers at military checkpoints to kidnap travelers for ransom.”
He recalled past incidents, including the abduction of a Methodist Church bishop in the area, and pointed to the recent discovery of a mass grave near the Hausa-Fulani cattle market in Lokpanta by Abia State Governor, Alex Otti.
“Instead of admitting that their attackers are northern terrorists and bandits, these rented truck drivers are falsely accusing IPOB. We are not violent, and we do not attack food suppliers. The real terrorism is happening in the North, but it goes unnoticed by the media,” he added.
Powerful further alleged that the Federal Government was using the accusations as a pretext to justify increased military presence in the South-East.
“No amount of blackmail, military onslaughts, forced disappearances, or extrajudicial executions will deter IPOB from demanding Biafra’s self-determination through a UN-supervised referendum. IPOB members are not terrorists; we are innocent of all state-sponsored accusations.”
