The Nigerian government on Friday named the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a militant terrorist organization and urged parents to dissuade their children from joining the group.
“After due professional analysis and recent developments, it has become expedient to notify the general public that the claim by IPOB actors that the organisation is non-violent is not true,” Maj. Gen. John Enenche, Nigeria’s defense spokesperson, said in a statement reaching Xinhua in Lagos, the country’s economic hub.
Some of the group’s actions include the formation of a Biafra Secret Service, claimed formation of Biafra National Guard, unauthorized blocking of public access roads, and extortion of money from innocent civilians at illegal road blocks, the statement said.
Others are possession and use of weapons, including stones, Molotov cocktails, machetes, and broken bottles on a military patrol on Sept. 10, 2017.
Enenche added that the group had physical confrontation with troops by Nnamdi Kanu and other IPOB actors at a checkpoint on Sept. 11, 2017 and also attempt to snatch their rifles.
The Armed Forces of Nigeria wish to confirm to the general public that IPOB from all intent, plan and purpose as analysed, is a militant terrorist organization, he said.
