BEVERLY HILLS, September 18, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government says the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, was being sponsored by a “Coalition of the Politically Disgruntled and the Treasury Looters” to destabilise the country and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration so they can have access to loot the public funds again.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who made this disclosure in Lagos on Sunday while interacting with journalists, stated that contrary to what some persons think, IPOB was not fighting for anyone’s rights.
Disclosing that IPOB’s modus operandi “is to trigger conflagration nationwide through attacks and reprisals”, he lamented that there was no doubt that the wounds inflicted on the country’s psyche by IPOB activities would take some time to heal.
Mohammed said, “the activities of IPOB became heightened with the advent of this administration, and have been unrelenting since then. If this is coincidental, then that coincidence is uncanny, at the least. Remember that Nnamdi Kanu, who led a protest at the Nigeria House in London against Boko Haram insurgency and in support of Nigeria’s unity under the Jonathan administration, has suddenly metamorphosed into an IPOB monster who will rather set the nation ablaze.
“Has anyone wondered why IPOB decided to up the ante, so to say, in its violent campaign immediately it was announced that Nigeria has come out of recession? Now, instead of the government being given the chance to consolidate on that monumental achievement, it is being distracted, and the airwaves have been polluted with the activities of IPOB. The good news of the end of recession and its fall-outs are being replaced in the headlines with the IPOB show of shame.
“We saw this trend early on and we warned the nation about it. The starting point was the rise of hate speech, fake news and disinformation. These were used in an attempt to downgrade the achievements of the administration and to hoodwink an unsuspecting public into believing that the administration has not moved the nation forward an inch since assuming office. Since 2016, we have been calling attention to the dangers posed by hate speech, fake news and disinformation. Our calls did not gain traction until those behind the campaign sought to overwhelm the nation.
“The self-imposed IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is the master of hate speech. No one, including the same people whose rights he claimed to be championing escaped his vitriolic and primitive attacks. We challenge all his sympathisers to scrutinise his incendiary, divisive and inciting speeches, the name-calling and the derogatory remarks about the nation’s leaders, and then tell the nation if such do not constitute hate speech. Leaders of thought and commentators who have shown the inclination to accommodate Kanu and his excesses should say if this is what they expect from someone who wants to lead.”
Mohammed insisted that but for the timely intervention of the military, the group would have set the country on fire, as he blamed Kanu for the spate of hate speeches, fake news and disinformation across the country.
He described the IPOB leader as the master of hate speech in the country, saying no one, including the same people whose rights he claimed to be championing, had escaped his vitriolic and primitive attacks.
The minister challenged all sympathizers of Kanu to scrutinise his past comments and remarks about the nation’s leaders, and then tell the nation if such did not constitute hate speech.
He stated that Kanu employed such measures to downgrade the achievements of the Buhari administration and to hoodwink an unsuspecting public into believing that the government has not moved the nation forward an inch since assuming office.
“IPOB engaged in physical confrontation with troops at a checkpoint on 11 September 2017, during which they attempted to snatch soldiers’ rifles and carrie
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