France Denies Hosting IPOB’s Financial HQ, Supports Nigeria’s Unity

France has denied the allegation made by the federal government that the financial headquarters of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was in its country.

The denial by France came on the heels of the demand by the separatist group challenging the federal government to show proof that it is a terrorist organisation.

This is just as the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), a major socio-cultural group in the North, has indicated that the North was ready for dialogue on the legitimate concerns being raised on the structure of the Nigerian state.

Political Counsellor, Claude Abily of the French Embassy in Nigeria, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja Thursday, expressed shock over the statement by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohamed, who claimed that the financial headquarters of IPOB was in France.

Abily in the statement said France was ready to cooperate with Nigeria to investigate the veracity of the federal government’s claim, adding that France as a country has been giving support to Nigeria in tackling her security challenges.

France also declared support for the unity of Nigeria.
The statement read: “The Embassy of France was surprised by the statement made thursday by the Minister of Information and Culture indicating that the ‘financial headquarters’ of IPOB is in France.

“We don’t have any knowledge of a particular presence of IPOB in France and the Nigerian authorities never got in touch with the embassy on this point.

“We stand ready to examine any information which could support this statement.
“Furthermore, we would like to reiterate that France actively cooperates with Nigeria in the field of security and that we strongly support the unity of the country.”
Mohammed on Wednesday at a news conference in Abuja, had claimed that the financial headquarters of IPOB was in France, adding that Radio Biafra, from which the group broadcast its secessionist propaganda, was based in the United Kingdom.

Show Proof We’re Terrorists

Even as France refuted the government’s allegation, IPOB, which was proscribed by an order of an Abuja court on Wednesday, challenged the federal government to show proof that it is a terrorist organisation.
The group, in a press statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, described as obnoxious the order by the acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdul Adamu Kafarati, proscribing and labelling it an unlawful terrorist group.

It condemned the order as “a disgracefully, shambolic, crudely fabricated and concocted order delivered by a biased All Progressives Congress lackey”.

IPOB said Justice Kafarati, in issuing the order, was more concerned about the APC-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari confirming him as the substantive Chief Judge of the Federal High Court than dispensing an unbiased justice without fear or favour, in accordance with his oath of office.

It demanded the evidence that led Justice Kafarati to order the proscription and branding of IPOB as a terror group, insisting that the order would not cow its members, as freedom was no longer far away.

“Unarmed, peaceful IPOB should never and cannot be labelled a terrorist organisation when Fulani herdsmen from Buhari’s tribe, with their Hausa Fulani soldiers in the Nigerian Army are the ones killing IPOB family members.
“The world can now clearly see there is something fundamentally wrong with the Nigerian psyche and its propensity to reward evil and punish good. Nigeria will go down in history as the only country on earth to proscribe a peaceful organisation whilst blood thirsty violent marauders are given financial inducements to stop killing their innocent victims,” IPOB said.

The group observed that it was appalling and an affront to common sense that the judiciary in Nigeria always allows itself to be manipulated and messed about by whichever government is in power, saying that it was even more apparent under the APC-led government, which it added had demonstrated its bias through the order granted by Justice Kafarati.

“The judiciary inadvertently made itself a laughing stock in the judicial world. No wonder more civilised parts of humanity sometimes see we Africans as being incapable of mental development beyond self-preserving primitive alliances.

“Legal practitioners all over the world would be wondering what caliber of people make it to the bench in Nigeria if a judge can order the banning of an association that has no history of violence whatsoever.
“Any judge or court of law worth its salt would have at the very least demanded for proof of evidence of terrorists acts by IPOB, before doing the bidding of the government.

“In this case, as with most cases against IPOB, the only evidence provided by the very lying Lai Mohammed and the Attorney-General of the Federation, is a video clip of brave IPOB men standing defiantly in front of an armored tank that killed three of their own in an unprovoked attack by the Nigerian Army at the home of their leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in Isiama Afaraukwu Ibeku,” IPOB said.

The group noted that the order had shown that Justice Binta Nyako stood her ground in delivering the judgment that granted Kanu bail, despite intimidation and blackmail by the Buhari-led administration to turn down the bail.

“Years of enduring blackmail, threats and humiliation of judges by Buhari’s regime is beginning to pay off. We dread to think of what might have become of the few brave judges like Justice Binta Nyako who stood their ground to deliver a sensible judgment even under the threat of imprisonment and demotion,” the group stated.

IPOB added that declaring it a terrorist organisation was more or less like declaring the whole indigenous peoples who live in their ancestral homeland in Biafraland as terrorists.