The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last election, Peter Obi, has launched a defence of the the proscribed terror group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Tweeting on Thursday after a prolonged silence on the group’s renewed killings and illegal movement restrictions in the eastern region, Obi defended the group’s innocence, quoting a purported denial previously issued by a faction of the deadly group.
“Also disturbing is the continued disruption of business and social activities in the South East region over the Sit-at-Home directive purported to be coming from the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, when the body has publicly denied issuing such directive,” Obi said.
The comment angered many, including residents of the South East, who questioned why Obi mounted a defense on the disputed claim issued by a faction of the group and his legitimization of its continued illegal existence, after its formal proscription by the Federal Government, by referring to it as a ‘body’.
Some claim that his “patently dishonest” position on the matter was informed by political considerations and the fact that he resides in Lagos, enjoying the safety and comfort that the state provides and not being a direct victim of IPOB’s reign of terror in the S’East.
Obi’s latest defense of IPOB is consistent with his previous positions in the past, having once contested the designation of the group as a terror group with the claim that he is familiar with the members and relates regularly with them.
Controversially too, Simon Ekpa, a leader of an IPOB faction presently coordinating the group’s criminal activities in the absence of the detained Nnamdi Kanu, declared Peter Obi a member of the group in a public post months ago, warning him not to “think he can use and dump IPOB.”