‘IPOB must never get the backing of other tribes in the country’

A group, the Conference of Minority Tribes of Nigeria (CMTN), has threatened to drag the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

The group made the call on Monday, in response to the allegation by the Department of State Security that the secessionist group killed some Fulani herdsmen and dumped their bodies in gutters in Abia state.

In a separate statement, the group also condemned the DSS for trying to instigate ethnic pogrom in Nigeria.

The Secretary General of CMTN, Samson Babalola, stated in the statement that: “However, by killing these innocent people, whose only offence is possibly that they were of a different ethnic stock from IPOB, these separatists have proven that they do not deserve and must never get the backing of other tribes and ethnic nationalities in the country.”

He noted that if the situation is not dealt with urgently, cases of ethnic killings will arise in Nigeria, just like in the Rwanda Genocide of 1990.

“It is also not too early to begin to monitor the online activities of IPOB members that are carrying out their own brand of radicalisation. They work hard to build public anger against anything Nigerian online making it difficult for their moderate sympathisers to contribute to national discourse without coming under threats.”

“This has greatly shrunken the space for intellectual discourse and actively endorsed promotion of violence against the state as a precondition for being considered loyal to IPOB ideals.”

“The Conference of Minority Tribes will drag those named by the DSS in these killings before the ICC. We had earlier condemned in totality the incessant herders clash with farmers which Nigerians can attest to and the principle of justice and fairness demands that every Nigerian should speak up when there is any perceived injustice in the land.”

“This is an unbearable narrative that must be condemned by all irrespective of tribal or ethnic affiliations. It is a matter of time before IPOB separatists turn on the rest of us if we remain silent on this matter. As for those sponsoring this national blight called IPOB, it is not too late to return to the path of national integration.”