The noble family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on Tuesday debunked the fallacious news peddled by the Nigerian Military that they invaded ESN camp and captured ESN commanders in Orlu and Okigwe Local Government Areas of Imo State.
The group cautioned the Nigerian military to call the criminals they capture by their names, adding that It's very unprofessional for the military to tag every criminal element captured as IPOB and ESN just for media blackmail against IPOB and propaganda to continue their criminal activities.
In a statement signed by the Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Comrade Emma Powerful, declared that "ESN Operatives are right inside Biafra bushes and forests dislodging marauding Fulani terrorists masquerading as herdsmen for the safety of our farmers and farmlands, particularly during the farming season. We know that the Nigerian military and their sister security agencies want to destroy ESN in order to pave the way for the Fulani terrorists to destroy our farmlands, but that will not happen.
"We advise the Nigerian government and her Security Agencies to desist from linking ESN and IPOB volunteers to their sponsored criminal elements who were kidnapping and snatching people's properties in the name of Biafra struggle.
"Repeatedly, IPOB has dissociated ourselves from these government sponsored criminals terrorising Okigwe and Orlu Communities in Imo State. The Nigeria government and her Security Agencies cannot claim ignorance of those criminals. The criminals even disassociated themselves from ESN. They call themselves Biafran Liberation Army, claiming to be fighting for Biafra but are involved in lots of violent crimes against Ndigbo.
"These criminals take orders from their leader sponsored by the Nigeria government and it's Department of State Services, DSS. Therefore, the Nigerian Army can not claim they are not working with these criminals that they are parading. We understand that the military and the criminals are working together to destroy IPOB-ESN, but their agenda is dead on arrival. Biafra Land is swallowing them at a faster pace. They can not comprehend".
While accusing the Nigerian government of recruiting the criminals to demonize the peaceful IPOB movement and her Eastern Security Network, ESN vigilante, disclosed that ESN operatives are disciplined and well oriented vigilantes under oath to protect their people, not to intimidate or harm them.
"However, the infiltrators and agent provocateurs were recruited to harass and make Biafra land insecure. But Biafrans and ESN Operatives are not giving them the liberty to achieve their objectives. Therefore, it is important that the world knows that the Nigeria government, her Security Agencies (military, DSS, and Police ), recruited the criminals to demonise the peaceful IPOB movement and her Eastern Security Network, ESN vigilantee.
"Those that the Nigerian Army claimed to have arrested in camps at Orlu and Okigwe are not ESN operatives. They are criminals masquerading as Liberation Army. IPOB does not have an Army. The Nigerian Army must call them by their names and leave IPOB ESN alone. Most of the insecurity situations in Imo State, particularly in Orlu, Orsu, and Okigwe, are masterminded by these criminals in the Liberation Army, Fulani terrorists, and criminal elements in the Nigeria Security Forces.
"All their criminal activities were tagged on IPOB by the Nigerian government to damage the reputation of IPOB and ESN internationally. We are aware that their agenda is also to persuade Ndigbo to disown IPOB and ESN and to make the international community believe that IPOB is a terrorist organization.
"Since the international community has refused to accept the terrorist tag that the Nigerian government vindictively placed on IPOB, the Nigerian government decided to create home groomed terrorists and call them IPOB and ESN. All their dirty strategies have failed because IPOB is innocent and focused on our objective, which is the Biafra referendum or outright declaration of Biafra Independence.
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"The international community has smart and intelligent agencies that can not be fooled by the Nigerian government's shenanigans against the self- determination movement championed by IPOB. It is only foolishness to continue to adopt the same strategies that have always failed and expect positive results.
"The Nigeria government and their murderous military is continuing to make jest of themselves locally and internationally by trying to demarket and blackmail the Biafran struggle, IPOB, and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, but what is the effects on them? Our hands are clean. We are preserving what is ours. We are in the right, so Nigeria will continue to fail".
