IPOB already printed passports, currencies, says Garba Shehu

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, says the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has already printed passports and currencies for a “territory they had declared” as theirs.

Speaking on a Channels TV programme on Thursday, Shehu said the secessionist group was determined to plung Nigeria into a major crisis.

Following a week-long crisis in Abia due to a face-off between IPOB members and security agencies, the defence headquarters declared the group a terrorist organisation.

A federal high court in Abuja subsequently proscribed IPOB, acting on the prayers of the federal government.

Responding to claims that the government would have settled for “softer” measures to tackle the group’s agitations, Shehu said there were no other indices left to prove that IPOB posed “serious” terror to the country’s unity.

He also accused the group of closing doors to dialogue with any group, including south-east leaders.

“Initially, it was clear that Kanu shut himself out of the reconciliation process (before talks with south-east governors began),” he said.

“In the run-up of these processes, the governors of the states in the region had put up a forum, IPOB said no, thank you, we are not interested. Senators set up a delegation and they (still) said no.

IPOB members had already declared a territory, printed passports and  currencies. They had made an open threat to seize neighbouring states, they are attacking people illegally and they are taxing money by force, so what else do you need to act upon?”

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE AGITATIONS, BUT LET THEM BE WITHIN THE AMBIT OF THE LAW

Responding to the possibility of a group similar with similar agitations like that of IPOB arising in the near future, Shehu said “nobody has ever imagined that there will be silence of the graveyard all over the country”.

“There will be agitations, protests, claims and counter-claims. But the important thing is, are they within the parameters of our constitution?

“In the case of IPOB, they clearly has no regard for the constitution and are determined to plung this country into a major crisis, which thankfully has been averted.”