THE Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, has condemned the explosion in Lagos on Sunday that claimed 20 lives and destroyed several houses.
In a statement issued by the Emma Powerful, media and publicity secretary for IPOB, the organization alleged that it was a bomb explosion “clearly targeted at Igbo homes and businesses. Our race is sleepwalking into a disaster worse than any seen before by endangered people”.
“Intelligence gathering by IPOB has revealed that about 14,000 churches have already been earmarked for bombing by the terrorists, who have been deployed to the zone. Most of the terrorists are already living among the people in the various communities and cities in South East, where some of them operate now as a tricycle, KEKE, riders, commercial motorcycle operators and shoemakers. They wander around our villages and streets as innocent people, but they have wicked intents and are only waiting for order to unleash mayhem
“A few days ago some of these bloodsuckers were observed in Umuahia identifying some churches to bomb on the set date. A further intelligence reports by the IPOB intelligence crack team revealed that the terrorists have concluded plans to blow up the marked churches simultaneously on the set date once they receive the final order from their sponsors. This, they intend to carry out before March 30,” the statement alleged.
It disclosed that last week a soldier in mufti was seen at Orie Ugba in Umuahia narrating how he narrowly escaped execution for refusing to ally with a secret plot to unleash mayhem in the town, while the similar event was also reported at Okigwe last month.
According to the statement, many terrorists have infiltrated KEKE and Okada operators in most cities and villages with the evil objective of familiarising themselves with the terrains.
“We want to sound the alert to our people that Ndigbo and indeed the entire Igboland have been surrounded by the terrorists. They have already taken over our forests and farmlands marauding as herdsmen. Some of their foot soldiers now live among us posing as shoe shiners, hawkers, labourers, and gatemen.
“It is very unfortunate that our governors and selfish political jobbers are not concerned about this disturbing trend. They are joking with the security of their people. They connived with Abuja to betray IPOB. They have refused to form regional security outfit unlike their counterparts in the South West,” the statement said.
It urged all church leaders in the South East/South-South to brace up for the worst and warned against boarding KEKE or Okada being operated by strangers.
“We also call the international community to hold the Nigerian Government for the genocide going on in Christian communities across the country. They have refused to protect innocent people but allowed herdsmen and terrorists to move about with weapons of warfare including AK47,” it added.