The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has hailed the Punch newspaper for taking “a tough and admirable editorial position” against what it called “autocracy and military-style repression” and “insufferable contempt for the rule of law” of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

IPOB observed that the recent editorial of Punch in which it decided to start addressing Buhari as Major General showed that what its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been saying “about the complicity and docility of the so-called Yoruba media in this era of Fulani impunity” is beginning to sink in.

The separatist group expressed hope that the Editorial Board of Punch will stay the course and reject any financial inducement “like Ray Ekpu did at the Newswatch after Dele Giwa was killed with a parcel bomb.”

In a statement made available on Friday by IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the group said: “We also hope that the Punch did not belatedly adopt this stance just because Yoruba people are now feeling this serial tyranny that had started with the Igbos and Biafrans since 2015.

“The power of Nnamdi Kanu’s admonition of complicit Nigeria media begins to sink in.

“While we commend the Punch for this courageous act, we must not fail to go down the memory lane to recall how Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has, in his broadcasts, vigorously criticized what is generally referred to as the ‘Lagos-Ibadan axis’ media in Nigeria.

“We also hope that the Punch did not belatedly adopt this stance just because Yoruba people are now feeling this serial tyranny that had started with the Igbos and Biafrans since 2015.

“Going forward, Punch must follow-up on its new toga by revisiting its shameful coverage of the horrible events of September 14, 2017. It was and remains a pivotal date in the history of journalism in Nigeria, because that was the day Nigeria media sold their conscience to Satan by reporting garbage and outright lies while innocent people were being killed in cold blood.”

IPOB expressed sadness that the entire mainstream media used their platforms to propagate damaging falsehoods and anti-IPOB narrative that a call for referendum is a call for war or armed secession.

IPOB insisted that the trend of dangerous and cowardly journalism emboldened the Army to abandon Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen terrorists to instead pursue IPOB as the prime enemy of the State.

The statement added: “Many people are still being detained and killed illegally, of which IPOB continues to bear the brunt of it. It has now been extended to Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, whose home was illegally invaded and burnt down, with many innocent souls extra-judicially executed in the process.

“Today, the Yoruba race is being humiliated like never before and Punch appears to have realized this and finally got around to listening to the log-running admonition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. It is hoped that, from now onwards, the rest of the Yoruba media, including Channels Television, Tribune, The Nation newspaper and particularly Sahara Reporters will toe the same path.”

The group urged the Punch “to demonstrate its sincerity by taking a step back and begin to chronicle all the horrid acts of impunity of this regime and also go beyond the current travails of Sowore.”

Update news