The group maintained that Biafra could not be compromised for Nigeria politics.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has berated Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, over his statement that IPOB agitation in the South-East region of the country has slowed down since the former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, emerged as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
The group maintained that Biafra could not be compromised for Nigeria politics.
It noted that “if Peter Obi knows IPOB and its aims and objectives, he wouldn't have come out in the first place to contest to waste his wealth and vast knowledge.”
The IPOB in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Wednesday said that Gumi did not understand that Obi’s presidential ambition had nothing to do with its resolve to pursue the freedom and actualisation of the Biafran Nation.
IPOB said, “The attention of the global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under the command and leadership of our great leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU has been drawn to unguarded statements from Sheikh Gumi alleging that IPOB agitation has slowed down in the South Eastern Region since Peter Obi picked up the tickets from Labour Party for presidential race in Nigeria.
“Sheikh Gumi must understand that IPOB is not in the same page with him and his terrorist cohorts ravaging the North and beyond.
“We understand that some unscrupulous elements in Nigeria, especially Fulani elements, were thinking that Peter Obi who is among those running the race to become Nigerian President would affect us or change our decisions to pursue the freedom of our dear nation, Biafra. We have covered the most rocky part in this struggle and no doubt that freedom of Biafra is certain.
“IPOB does not engage with any shambolic selection process they call "Nigeria election" and we are not interested in their fraudulent ways of selecting the president of Nigeria because we do not recognise Nigeria as a Sovereign State deserving our allegiance and loyalty.
“We have said it before now that IPOB does not know Peter Obi and Peter Obi does not know IPOB. If Peter Obi knows IPOB and its aims and objectives, he wouldn't have come out in the first place to contest to waste his wealth and vast knowledge.
“Therefore for Peter Obi to have come out to contest for Nigeria president is an indication that he is not on the same page with IPOB. But people should not equate him with IPOB agenda, they can say any other thing about him not Biafra agitation.
“We can never slow down agitation until Biafra comes.
“Any Biafran who comes out and joins the election process under Nigeria has publicly proven that he or she is not in the same ideology with IPOB. Fulani people should stop dissipating their energies on what is not obtainable anywhere in the world.
“The most important political process that IPOB is interested in and would overwhelmingly participate in would be an International Community Supervised Referendum on Biafrans choice to stay or exit Nigeria.
“Biafra is something you would not understand how it will emerge because Elohim is paddling the movement through volunteered wise men and women who are intellectuals and not those speaking from both ends of their mouths.”