Garba Shehu, SA Media to the President, has argued that the proscription of IPOB led to the United States’s categorization of Nigeria as one of the countries suppressing religious freedom
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said the United States categorized Nigeria among countries suppressing religious freedom because of the ban on IPOB.
He made the revelation on Friday at the Federal University Dutsinma in Katsina State while presenting a paper titled “Fake News: Challenges of Information Management” as part of the convocation lecture of the institution.
Shehu said Nigeria should never have been on the list but it was included after IPOB’s international media misinformed the United States about the country.
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“Just recently, the US-Biden administration removed Nigeria from the list of countries under scrutiny for alleged violations of religious freedom.
“This sad and uncalled for ban came on the heels of 12 months of lies by some extremist groups and the banned terrorist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB’s well-funded international media campaign,” he said
He also said the group intended to cause disharmony between the two major religions, Christianity and Islam and they did not care about the consequences of their actions.
“Those who willingly took money from terrorists spread falsehoods against a democratically elected government.
“They took advantage of well meaning, God-fearing Americans to whom they spread their lies.
“Their aim was to drive a wedge, for political advantage, between the two great religions and by doing so make true their fake claims that Muslims and Christians cannot live side-by-side in love and peace
“They did not care if their maliciousness was the cause of religious tension. In fact, it is possible they sought to encourage it to prove their point.
“Yet despite all the funds at their disposal, they only convinced for a brief time those who had been voted out of office by US citizens to add Nigeria to the list,” Garba Shehu added.
