The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described Wednesday’s fire incident in the commercial city of Onitsha as a terrorist attack orchestrated by evil men that are determined to exterminate Igbos from the face of the earth.

The group said that such act were carried out by those that think they are serving a Jihadi cause that will bring about the Islamisation of Biafraland through terrorism.

A statement by IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, said: “A time when Fulani herdsmen, sponsored by the caliphate, are actively engaged in the forceful acquisition of our lands in Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra and Abia, aided by the Nigerian Army under the guise of Operation Python Dance 4, this massive loss of lives and businesses in Onitsha is most unwelcome.”

IPOB wondered why there are no exploding tankers in crowded streets of Kano, Kaduna or Sokoto.

“Why must tankers driven by northerners always explode in the South or the brakes of their trailers always fail in Biafraland? It is time now for our people to wake up to this new reality of population reduction by those intent on the destruction of the Biafran race.

“We Biafrans as a people are under immense siege from our enemies on multiple fronts. They are determined to conquer and subjugate us by all means but we IPOB shall continue to resist them regardless of human and material cost.

“This is not the first time an articulated Dangote lorry or a tanker driven by a terrorist ladden with inflammable liquid has been involved in mass fatalities in Onitsha or other parts of Anambra State. The story is always the same, it’s either their trailer had brake failure or their tanker exploded, all resulting in massive loss of lives and destruction of individually owned businesses.

“It is not a coincidence that at a time when Biafrans are being persecuted in India, South Africa, Togo, Congo, Indonesia and Malaysia at the instigation of the Government of Nigeria, our land being forcibly given to Fulani terror herdsmen by weak South East governors; Ohanaeze Ndigbo slavishly and treacherously going down on their knees to beg the caliphate to make Nnia Nwodo a lapdog president of the north, coupled with the closure of land borders in the South of Nigeria while those in the North remain open; using Operation Python Dance 4 to terrorise innocent civilians to submit to the will of the Fulani caliphate, are all well marshalled schemes designed to instil fear, strangulate Biafran businesses across West Africa, render Biafraland economically impotent and prepare Biafrans for total annihilation.

“One thing is certain, there is no way they can succeed because IPOB is already withstanding and confronting them in all forms and on all fronts.

“Every Biafran must wake up to this inevitable reality that our governors and Ohanaeze have sold us and our children’s future to their Fulani masters. What awaits us all is slavery and servitude unless we rise up to support Biafra restoration as puritanically championed by IPOB.”

While insisting that the fire outbreak in Onitsha was designed and orchestrated by a few individuals who used a Fulani driver to perfect the heinous terrorists attack on the peace loving people of the southeast, the group said that even in the midst of the terrible attack, the incompetency and carelessness of Governor Willie Obiano shone through.

IPOB regretted that Anambra State government were unable to mobilise paid fire fighters or summon a fire engine to help with efforts to put out the inferno, saying that instead the state governor ordered the arrest of those that volunteered to stop the fire from spreading.

The group commiserated with all the families and communities that lost loved ones over the terror attack in Onitsha on the 16 October 2019.

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