Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has issued a stern warning to women in Igboland to resist any attempt by anybody to persuade them into staging protest that will endanger their lives in the hands of security operatives in Nigeria.
The pro-Biafra Biafra movement gave the warning following a purported call from its United States-based legal Adviser, Mr. Bruce Fein, asking IPOB women to embark on a street protest in Abuja over the continued detention of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
A statement signed by the IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, urged the women to disregard the call made by the lawyer, noting that the US -based legal practitioner is oblivious of the security situation of the country at the moment.
The statement also explained that the lawyer has no right to issue such statement and that such could only endanger the lives of innocent people as has been the case to its previous outing under the present administration in the country.
According to the statement, “We the global movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu wish to completely disassociate from such opinion and instruct Biafran women to please ignore such opinion and avoid the unnecessary risk.
“We, wish to state also that Bruce Fein overstepped his bounds as IPOB legal adviser in issuing such directive which will only expose our women to avoidable dangers and harm.
“Bruce Fein is our legal adviser and not IPOB Spokesperson. He does not quite understand that the version of democracy operational in Nigeria is different from the real democracy being practised in the US where he resides.
“In the US, protests are part and a common feature of Democracy and protesters enjoy protection from security agencies. But maybe unknown to him, in Nigeria, protesters are termed terrorists and shot on sight. To protest in Nigeria, particularly under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, is a suicide mission.
“IPOB will not advise Biafra women to hit the streets for any protest now because their safety is not guaranteed. We have lost a lot of innocent souls in the past protests and the international community watched without any intervention.
“Therefore, we won’t allow more people to be sent to their untimely grave by security operatives in Nigeria who run away from terrorists and Fulani bandits in the North but shamelessly show their might when it has to do with unarmed agitators of self determination in the South.
“We understand the concern of Mr Bruce Fein but we advise him to restrict himself strictly to providing legal services to our Movement, and refrain from dishing out unapproved directives to Biafrans. Such overzealousness could be counter productive because we operate in a peculiar and very difficult environment.
“We have done a lot of protests in the past and a lot of innocent Biafrans were killed in cold blood by security agencies. We do not want a repeat of that again.
“We, therefore, urge all Biafrans to please ignore such directive from Bruce Fein, and any other of such directive not emanating from IPOB Spokesman and communicated through our proper channels of information dissemination.”
