‘This is not 1967’ — IPOB denies planning to attack Lagos

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denied a claim by the police that it was planning to attack Lagos state.

Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB leader, said in a statement on Monday that the claim was made to fuel division between the Yoruba and the Igbo.

At a stakeholders’ meeting on Monday, Hakeem Odumosu, Lagos commissioner of police, had said the command is investigating alleged threats by IPOB and agitators of Oodua Republic to attack the state.

“The command has taken notice of agitators for Oodua Republic by some Yoruba separatist groups and the threats to disrupt law and order in the state,” Odumosu had said.

“Twenty-four of these groups have been identified and being closely monitored. Similarly, the threat of IPOB to attack soft targets in Lagos is equally being put on the radar of the command intelligence gathering and other security services in the state.”

But Kanu said no such thing is being planned, adding that “this is not 1967”, in an apparent reference to the civil war that broke out that year over the struggle for Biafra.

“The public is hereby notified that the allegations that IPOB is plotting to attack Lagos is a lie,” he said, adding that the police “intention is to fuel division between Yorubas & Biafrans. It won’t work.”