ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has distanced itself form the recent killing of an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ibrahim Iyiorji, in Ebonyi State.
Iyiorji, who hails from Ebonyi State but was converted to the Muslim faith, was recently murdered in the state by unidentified gunmen.
It is speculated that the IPOB might be responsible for the murder of the Muslim cleric, but the group said killing Muslims was not part of its mandate.
In a press release by the spokesperson of the group, Mr Emma Powerful, he said killing a Muslim will not add anything to its quest for the Biafra Republic.
The release partly read: “IPOB does not engage in such barbaric killings and cannot be part of such heinous crime against humanity.
“IPOB does not kill flies talk of human beings and an Igbo man for that matter, irrespective of his religious belief.
“Important questions to ask are: why will IPOB kill this Igbo Islamic cleric? Is he a threat to Biafra movement? How many of our known enemies have we killed?”
IPOB stated that Nigerian security agencies were fond of stage-managing confessions from criminals with the hope of indicting them.
The group added that criminals tagged as unknown gunmen were not part of IPOB, noting that their activities are in the open and cannot be described as unknown.
“Some unscrupulous elements and petty thieves are constantly stage-managed by security agents to lie against IPOB members and ESN operatives.
“IPOB and ESN never killed any Army officer, Police officer, or DSS agent despite all provocations in the name of unknown gunmen since we started pursuing Biafra freedom.
“IPOB and ESN are not hiding its activities and cannot be called unknown gunmen because we are not faceless nor cowards. We are fearless before our enemies.”