IPOB threatens violence, alleges ethnic cleansing in Imo

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has raised the alarm over what it described as the secret and indiscriminate elimination of Igbo youths, particularly in Orlu, Imo State.

The pro-Biafra group in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Ema Powerful, titled: ‘Nigerian government is secretly silencing the South East region,’ alleged that the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Police were behind the dastardly act.

IPOB condemned the alleged “indiscriminate and extrajudicial executions” of Igbo youths across the South-East region, particularly in Orlu province of Imo State

“The latest extrajudicial execution of some youths from Obidi Ogberuru of Ihite-Owerri, in Orlu, by soldiers is among the most horrible silent ethnic cleansing practices that the Nigerian Government is sponsoring against Ndigbo in the region.

“These murdered youths were going about their normal business peacefully. Sadly, they were accosted by the soldiers on patrol and were shot dead for doing nothing. There are many unreported killings and forced disappearances of the youths in the region, particularly in Imo State, by Nigerian security forces.

“Why is the Nigerian Army patrolling in our villages? The silent genocide of Igbo youths in the region, which started during the Muhammadu Buhari regime, has been sustained in current Bola Tinubu’s government. Why the hate? Nigerian soldiers and Police are the real terrorists terrorising Ndigbo and making the region unsafe,” the statement read in part.

The group noted that Tinubu’s government was doing everything to provoke Ndigbo to pick up arms in self-defence so that it can unleash a full war on Ndigbo like his kinsmen did between 1967 and 1970.

It added: “We are alerting Igbo governors, Ndigbo at home, and Ndigbo in the Diaspora, the international community, and human rights organisations to be aware of the silent genocide being perpetrated by the Nigeria government against unarmed civilians in the South-East.”

IPOB, therefore, advised Igbo governors to work towards stopping the indiscriminate arrests, extrajudicial executions, and forceful disappearances of Igbo youths in the hands of security forces. It alleged that the Nigerian government and its security forces had profiled Ndigbo for elimination.