Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has yet again refused to condemn the murderous campaign of the proscribed secessionist group, IPOB, after a widely condemned weekend attack by Unknown Gunmen on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah in Anambra, a state Obi governed for two terms.
Ubah’s convoy came under gunfire on Sunday while traveling through Enugu-Ukwu community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State in what has been described as an attempt on the life of the lawmaker.
At least seven individuals traveling in the convoy, including security operatives, were killed, according to initial reports. Ubah’s escape was due to the bullet-proof jeep he was riding in, multiple eyewitness accounts say.
The attack was Unknown Gunmen’s latest act of deadly violence in a region where movement and other basic rights are arbitrarily suspended, based on the whims of the terrorist group.
Despite the murderous campaign and the unanimous condemnation that continues to trail it, particularly from prominent political figures and Nigerians from other parts of the country, Peter Obi has maintained an odd silence, declining to openly condemn the IPOB group known as “Unknown Gunmen” on Nigerian media streets.
His silence has fueled insinuations of a dangerous alliance with the terrorists, many of whom are now publicly expressing their support for his unlikely presidential bid because he allegedly would help with the Biafran project.
Obi himself has suffered criticism for running an insular campaign, styling himself as an ‘ethnic champion’ through distortions of historical events and reckless statements other Nigerians have found alienating.