By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has called the attention of the world to the alleged massacre of Biafrans in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State by the Nigerian Government.

The group on Friday accused the Nigerian military of the massacre, with claims that they are the “unknown gunmen” behind the spate of attacks against security formations in the region.

IPOB in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said that the Nigeria military has been using their aircraft leased from Pakistan and with the support of United Kingdom Mission in Nigeria, to bomb the people of Essien Udim in Akwa Ibom as well as lower Benue, claiming they are fighting unknown gunmen purportedly hiding in the area.

The statement partly reads: “This has again exposed the hypocrisy of the Fulani controlled Nigeria military and their backers within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.

“Catriona Laing the UK High Commissioner in Abuja who incidentally is the neo-colonial ruler of Nigeria cannot advise her Fulani puppets to use Nigeria Air Force jets against terrorists and bandits daily slaughtering Nigerian soldiers in Fulani controlled Northern Nigeria but she is busy encouraging the genocidal slaughter of innocent villagers in Biafran territories under the guise of searching for Unknown Gunmen.

“In February, it was Orlu in Imo State where civilians were massacred using the same aircrafts supplied by western allies to aid the fight against Boko Haram and other forms of Fulani terrorism. Now it's Essien Udim in Akwa Ibom.

“But an Islamic cleric has been dinning and wining with terrorists, taking pictures with them, yet the Nigeria military and Catriona Laing our colonial mistress cannot use the same aircraft to trace and bomb the location of these Fulani murderers.”

IPOB wondered why a responsible military would use helicopter gunboats and military jets against ordinary citizens, noting that Boko Haram, Miyetti Allah and “other Fulani terrorist groups have been killing soldiers and police in the North East and North West without soldiers using deadly force on nearest civilian settlements or using military jets to terrorize innocent citizens.”

While describing the military’s action as a pathetic attempt to intimidate them to submission, IPOB urged the indigenous people of Essien Udim to remain strong and resolute in the collective quest for freedom.

It insisted that the actions of the Presidency in the bombing of civilian villages in Akwa Ibom and Benue State “is a clear indication that the territories are indisputably Biafra.”

“Constant attacks on innocent people will spell doom for Nigeria soon. We are not going back, not one inch, until Biafra is fully restored.

“All those behind these genocidal attacks against innocent Biafrans know that vengeance is coming. They will all pay, individually and collectively, for their atrocities against civilians sooner rather than later,” IPOB stated.

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