According to him, it “goes to show the mindset of the government towards Biafra.”
The family of Nnamdi Kanu, detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has advised the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency to stop sponsoring lies against pro-Biafra agitations.
Prince Emmanuel Kanu, a brother to the detained IPOB leader stated this on Saturday in an interview with Vanguard.
Kanu was reacting to the statement credited to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, over the purported designation of IPOB as a terror group by the United Kingdom.
Media reports on Friday had it that the UK government had recognised IPOB as a proscribed organisation – although the British High Commission in Abuja had refuted the claims.
But before the rebuttal by the British High Commission, Shehu said the UK’s stance was a welcome development and should be followed up with appropriate actions.
Shehu had said, “Nigeria welcomes the decision by the United Kingdom to proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group. The violent secessionist organisation has long been proscribed as such in Nigeria where it carries out the majority of its murderous activities.
“It has taken our allies in the U.K. so long to follow suit owing to two reasons: first, the deep pockets of IPOB’s international network of funders that allow for lawyers and influence peddlers to aggressively lobby for and whitewash the activities of their client in Western courts; and second, IPOB’s influential communication network of TV and radio stations – including London-based Radio Biafra – employed with great effect to spread misinformation abroad and incite violence at home.”
But in an interview on Saturday, Prince Emmanuel said it was amusing that the President’s spokesmen already celebrated fake news without any attempt to verify the source.
According to him, it “goes to show the mindset of the government towards Biafra.”
He noted that “the President might not even be aware of the overzealousness of his spokesmen who churn out press statements without authorisation.”