Before its proscription by the military and southeast governors, the Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB had exhibited all the characteristics of a terrorists group to the extent that it had become the metaphor for describing the southern equivalent of Boko Haram led by Abubakar Shekau.
Recall Kanu had declared ‘Biafra Republic’ same as Shekau declared an Islamic Caliphate; where he called Nigerians animals like Shekau called them infidels. But IPOB will be worse than Boko Haram if not urgently tackled.
Both men promised to deliver the heads of Nigerian Presidents to their declared enclaves; IPOB and Boko Haram adopted flags other than the green-white-green; they formed cabinets; they radicalised youths, they called for attacks on Nigeria and Nigerians; and they both declared the state and its military as their enemy.
We have observed that some unrepentant members of IPOB have resorted to ramping up their campaign of fake news, which they have been using to brainwash residents in the South-East.
The pseudo-online news portals they deploy for their propaganda have ramped up their farcical activities to an extent that they are now lying against foreign dignitaries in the hope that this would distract the Federal Government from its resolve to protect all Nigerians.
The latest of such attempt is a headline “EU Condemns and Cautions Nigerian Military, Reject the Declaration of IPOB as a Terrorist Organization”. In the poorly written story cooked up to justify the lying headline, the impression was created that the President of the European Union Commission, Jean Claude Juncker was in support of a terrorist organisation destroying Nigeria. Unfortunately for this fake news site, the slightest fact checking reveals no such statement exists in the database of if statements issued by the EU Commission or Juncker.
For the avoidance of doubt, the most current news about Juncker and the EU is about him doing his best to prevent BREXIT, the breakaway of Great Britain from the EU even after Britons have voted in a referendum to leave the union. It will take a supremely illiterate persons to attempt blackmailing Nigeria with fake news while using an organization and leader that favour more countries staying together to form a super nation.”
I call on Nigerians not to be swayed by such lies and to take note of sites that circulate such fake news.
Patriot Sabo Ode, Abuja
