The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for linking its members to pipeline vandalism.
President Buhari, who responded to questions from Bloomberg, an American newspaper, accused IPOB of engaging in oil bunkering and had pleaded with the United States to name IPOB as a terrorist group.
“Criminality and terrorism in oil-producing regions hamper production, and it would help if our western allies designated IPOB as a terrorist group, given their complicity in damage to pipelines and infrastructure,” Buhari stated.
Reacting to the President’s statement, IPOB said his remark is laughable, disgraceful, and false, exposing how uninformed he is about Nigeria’s affairs.
A statement by the group’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, urged the President to disclose the location of the pipelines allegedly vandalised by IPOB.
“The attention of the global movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great and indefatigable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the laughable, disgraceful, and fallacious statement from the supposed President of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, alleging that IPOB is behind pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta.
“For the impostor in Aso Rock to tell the US and other Western countries that IPOB is responsible for pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta shows how shallow-minded and uninformed he is. Why should he choose to further advertise his ignorance and the failure of his Government in credible intelligence gathering by making such laughable, wide, and untenable allegations?
“Muhammadu Buhari should tell America and other Western countries the locations of pipelines IPOB vandalised in their evil country. The allegation against IPOB by Buhari is childish because everybody knows that IPOB does not engage in pipeline vandalism in Nigeria. Even the international community knows that IPOB does not involve in such acts.
“Maybe the Fulani-controlled Federal Government of Buhari doesn’t know that the West is not as daft and uninformed as he and his fellow clueless kleptomaniacs are, otherwise, he would not have made such embarrassing factless claims,” the statement said.
