The Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB (IPOB) has said that being part of Biafra would never be by coercion but voluntary through a referendum. The group, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary Emma Powerful, said any tribe or ethnicity not willing to be part of the republic would not be forced to do so. It however said such tribes must conduct a referendum for their people to decide their fate on the agitation for Biafra. The group further refuted reports accusing the leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu of drawing the Biafra map, describing it as false and targeted to set the members against themselves. The statement reads in part: “Our attention has been drawn to the blackmail being sponsored by our detractors that IPOB has drawn the Biafra map. We, therefore, want to debunk such a fallacious narrative. We did not draw any Biafra map. – “We understand that some people in the coastal region of Biafra are misinformed and deceived with false information that IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu and Igbo have drawn the map of Biafra. It is false and intended to set us against ourselves. The issue of the Biafra map should not generate any heat because we know ourselves. “Ijaw National Council (INC) should understand and remember that their brother Dr Frank Opigo initiated the name Biafra which we answer today. “They should stop saying that Ijaw wasn’t conquered pre-colonial and Colonial-era because Igbo never said they were conquered. “Igbo people never conquered any tribe in the old Eastern region because our fathers saw themselves as one family, and today IPOB and Nnamdi KANU have towed the peaceful steps and accommodating spirits of our fathers but if any tribe undermined our no problem you can continue on your own. “Being part of BIAFRA will never be by coercion but a voluntary matter through a referendum. “Any tribe or ethnicity who doesn’t want to be part of Biafra will never be forced to do so. Such tribes are free to go on their own but you must conduct a referendum for your people to decide their fate on the agitation for Biafra. “We can attest that Igbo people never fought against any tribe in olden days because Igbo believe in (Onyeaghala Nwanne ya and, Ibiri Kamu biri) (live and let live). “Again Ijaw tribe and other tribes in the old Eastern region including the Mid Western region are Igbo brothers and sisters today, tomorrow and forever. “Igbo are not going to force anybody or tribe to join the fight for Biafra freedom. Let every tribe try what they can to wake up for their freedom because freedom is good and remains the best for all of us. “No tribe in the old Eastern region and Western region should allow themselves to be deceived because Nnamdi KANU and IPOB did not draw map for Biafra. Instead, we are staking our precious lives for all and it is the sacrifice we ought to pay for the realisation of our freedom and independence. “We are staking all we have for this freedom project, without the Igbo tribe being in forefront of this struggle the struggle would have been a thing of the past and we must continue until freedom is totally achieved. “Again, we appreciate the move by Izon tribe and other tribes in the region to achieve freedom but they should not look by the side because if they do, they will lose their focus then the freedom will move out of their hands, let them focus and stop displaying their hatred against Igbo tribe without Igbo they are gone in this Nigeria designed and approved for fulani to control. “They should know that IPOB and Igbo are not their problems but Fulani and the compromised politicians in our midst.”

Provisions and food items were on Saturday destroyed when fire razed the Total Foodstuff Market in Oko, Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State. The market is close to the back gate of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko. Victor Oluchukwu, a resident of the area, told PREMIUM TIMES that the police quickly barricaded the area to prevent people from looting the shops. “When I got there this morning, security people were there blocking (movements) and making sure that people carrying things were actually the owners of those shops. (So that) some people will not go and steal things,” Mr Oluchukwu said. The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Toochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES Saturday afternoon. He said no life was lost in the fire incident. “The fire took place around 1:30a.m. Some provision shops were affected. Police operatives quickly went to the place to cordon off the area because we discovered that, at times, hoodlums take advantage of the situation to loot, (but) we prevented that,” he said. “On the receipt of the information, police operatives quickly contacted the fire service and with the help of the people in the area the fire was successfully put off,” he added. Mr Ikenga said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. He said the police have commenced an investigation into it.

Controversial preacher, Funmilayo Adebayo, better known as Mummy G.O is trending on social media following an alleged video showing the moment she was spotted going to a club in Dubai. This comes days after the evangelist shared a video of herself gushing over her exquisite hotel room in Dubai. Another alleged video of Mummy G.O drinking beer with a man at a bar also made rounds a few days ago which subsequently generated brouhaha as regards her identity. In the recent clip, Mummy G.O was spotted standing at the door of a tall building with a lady who donned a white skimpy dress. The videographer further raised an alarm and laughed hard as the preacher exited the premises.

Operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), on Wednesday, blocked a British diplomat from speaking with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. According to PREMIUM TIMES, Eno Agodo, British Vice Consul, Lagos, had attended Mr Kanu’s trial before Binta Nyako on Wednesday in Abuja, where the Biafran agitator is being tried on a 15-count amended charge bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism. At the close of proceedings in the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, Ms Agodo first sought the permission of Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Mr Kanu’s lead counsel to speak with his client, which was granted. But as the British diplomat made her way to the dock where Mr Kanu, who holds dual citizenship in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, was speaking with family members, she was intercepted by the Director of Legal Services of the secret police and operatives who had formed a wall around the IPOB leader. Thereafter, PREMIUM TIMES reporter sought to speak with Ms Agodo on what transpired, but she declined. Jonathan Bacon, a political counsellor at the British High Commission, had written a letter dated January 11, 2022 and addressed to the trial judge, Mrs Nyako, which he sought permission for Ms Agodo to attend Mr Kanu’s trial from January 18 to 20. In the letter entitled, ‘Nnamdi Kanu Trial-Access for British Consular Official to Attend Federal High Court, 18th to 20th January, 2022’, the British High Commission, specifically requested that Ms Agodo attended the IPOB leader’s trial as an “observer.” The United Kingdom harboured Mr Kanu after he jumped bail and fled Nigeria in 2017 when soldiers invaded his home. This stalled his trial in Nigeria for years until he was rearrested, reportedly in Kenya, and brought back to Nigeria, in June last year. While abroad, Mr Kanu continued reaching out to his Nigerian followers through social media channels as violence linked to the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed wing of IPOB, escalated in the South-east. During the period, the U.K. government also resisted calls from the Nigerian government to declare IPOB a terrorist organisation as it was done in Nigeria in 2017. Another blockade Blocking the British representative from having access to Mr Kanu on Wednesday highlights what appears to be government’s desperation to cut him off from having any contact with foreigners or their agents. A similar scenario played out during Mr Kanu’s trial on Tuesday, when Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who led the IPOB leader’s defence team, made frantic but unsuccessful efforts to get Bruce Fein, a United States lawyer, to attend the court session. Mr Fein, a counsel to the secessionist group in the U.S, has not been able to have an audience with the Mr Kanu, as he claimed several attempts to visit the IPOB leader at the SSS detention facility in Abuja had been resisted. “I have not been able to meet with my client, Mr Kanu since I arrived Nigeria,” Mr Fein told our reporter in an interview last December. “Officials of the State Security Service wouldn’t let me meet Mr Kanu,” Mr Fein added, saying, the action of the spy agency is a “gross violation” of Mr Kanu’s fundamental rights. ⓘ Mr Fein had received similar treatment during previous proceedings in the case. However, a top official at the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, said the American lawyer had no right to represent the IPOB leader in a Nigerian court. “Bruce Fein has no right to represent either Mr Kanu or IPOB in any Nigerian law court,” the official who pleaded anonymity told this reporter. “Was Mr fein called to the Nigerian Bar?,” the source queried. Last week, Mr Kanu wrote the British High Commission and the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, urging them to send representatives to observe proceedings in his ongoing trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The IPOB leader had premised his requests on the grounds that the presence of the British and American envoys might guarantee fair trial of his case. This newspaper could not ascertain if Ms Agodo’s presence in court was in response to Mr Kanu’s request. But the American embassy had no representative at the proceedings last Tuesday and Wednesday.