Recent events in the eastern part of Nigeria have prompted the revisit of the robust defence of the IPOB terrorist made by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last election.
During an interview with Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV at the height of IPOB’s seditious challenge of the legitimacy of the Nigerian state, including through the establishment of a parallel military group armed with guns and other ammunitions, Peter Obi rebuked the Buhari-administration for labelling it a terror group.
When queried by the journalist over the disagreement, Obi described IPOB as a peaceful organization comprised of “regular people” whom he knew and lived with. He said his interactions with them filled him with neither threat nor alarm because they conducted their affairs peacefully.
???????? Nigeria ????????, Did We Dodge A Bullet Or Not?
IPOB is a Peaceful Organization-@PeterObi pic.twitter.com/f02S06xQQL— D' Jagaban (@mormon1830) July 5, 2023
Meanwhile, independent checks at the time Obi granted the interview showed that IPOB had already commenced its campaign of killing and abductions under the supervision of Nnamdi Kanu who insisted on the forceful secession of the eastern region to form a Biafran republic.
Obi’s refusal to condemn the group was widely believed to have been informed by its popularity amongst those sympathetic to its secessionist agenda. He was allegedly thinking as a politician, hoping to curry support from the group’s vast members and sympathizers who daily thronged its rallies and other meetings at the time.
A few years later, IPOB has turned its guns against many of those who once hailed it, holding them ransom in protest of the arrest of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Poverty has spiked in the eastern region following the collapse of trade and other economic activities over insecurity and arbitrary restrictions imposed by the group for its sit-at-home weekly exercise.
The unravelling and full embrace of violence and terror nevertheless, Obi remains unwilling to publicly condemn the group and its criminal activities. He has sparsely commented on its violent campaign, including the recent killing of transport workers and assault of schoolchildren in communities and towns in the eastern region, also Anambra where Obi hails from.
Many have attributed Obi’s silence to his alleged political opportunism and suspected ties with the organization which adopted him as its official candidate in the 2023 presidential contest.
Knowing the group’s well-reported deployment of violence and crime, as well as its rejection of the Nigerian state, some expected Obi to denounce and reject IPOB’s support during the electoral season. He, however, failed to do so, fuelling rumours of a concealed collaboration.