The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has drawn attention to and rejected what it described as “the divisive and hateful Independence Day address delivered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
IPOB Spokesperson and Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful made the remarks in a press statement he issued dated October 1, 2025.
Comrade Powerful asserted that President Tinubu “recklessly and falsely lumped IPOB with Boko Haram, whilst in the same breadth exonerating ISWAP, Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and Lakaruwa”.
Powerful expressed angst that Tinubu failed to mention them, rather, focused only on Boko Haram and IPOB.
“Tinubu effectively signalled they are not terrorist groups,” he pointed out.
Powerful insisted that IPOB is a peaceful, globally recognized movement pursuing self-determination through nonviolent means.
“Not a single shred of verifiable evidence has ever been presented in any court of law linking IPOB or our leader to terrorism, kidnapping, or killings.
“The Federal High Court in Abuja has already ruled unequivocally that IPOB is not a terrorist organization as far back as March 2017.
“That subsisting judgment has never been vacated,” he noted.
According to him, Tinubu ought to know with his level of education in the United States that an ex parte order cannot proscribe a mass movement of millions of people without adversarial hearing.
“That proscription was nothing but a worthless piece of paper—abused by successive regimes to unleash mayhem, massacres, and extrajudicial killings upon unarmed Biafrans,” he emphasised.
“The Hypocrisy of Tinubu’s Speech”
The IPOB Spokesperson stated categorically that it is hypocritical and insulting for Tinubu to demonize IPOB while exonerating Fulani killer herdsmen who are daily terrorizing citizens, from Kwara to Plateau, from Benue to Enugu.
He regretted that when entire communities are wiped out, Tinubu’s government calls it farmer-herder clashes.
However, “when unarmed Igbo youths protest peacefully, they are branded terrorists.
“This double standard exposes Tinubu’s deep-seated prejudice against the Igbo race.
“As Tinubu is fixated with IPOB, at the behest of the British and Igbo quislings that pass as politicians in Igbo land, Kwara State has been overrun by the real terrorists from Janjaweed territories,” Powerful said.
IPOB Lambasts “Toothless Igbo Political Class”
The IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary further noted that Tinubu insults IPOB “because the Igbo political class are weak, spineless errand boys of Abuja… without conscience.
“In his speech, Tinubu did not only indict IPOB; he indirectly indicted the shameless politicians who invited him into Igboland to dance on the graves of their own people.
“They should know that history will not absolve them,” he stated.
Powerful insisted that IPOB is not Boko Haram, not ISWAP, not Al-Qaeda, rather, a people struggling for our survival in the face of state-sponsored genocide.
He stressed that its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is still being held illegally by the Department of State Security (DSS) despite multiple court rulings ordering his release.
“If Tinubu truly believes in justice, let him obey the courts instead of propagating lies,” Powerful admonished.
“IPOB rejects and condemns Tinubu’s hate speech.
“His attempt to criminalize an entire nation of Igbo people through the backdoor of state propaganda will fail.
“The struggle for Biafra’s liberation is a just cause rooted in truth, justice, and international law.
“No amount of blackmail will erase that,” Powerful assured.
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