The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) restated its demand for a referendum, dismissing the amnesty proposal suggested by the Igbo apex socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
IPOB criticized Ohanaeze President-General Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu’s call for President Bola Tinubu to offer amnesty to IPOB members and release their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, as unfounded and misdirected.
According to Emma Powerful, the spokesperson for IPOB, they emphasized that Kanu and its members have not initiated any conflict against the Federal Government of Nigeria.
A statement by Powerful, reads: “We disagree with the statement of Ohanaeze Ndigbo President, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu who was appealing to the Federal Government of Nigeria led by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and grant IPOB members Amnesty.
“As much as we appreciate his call for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, his request to grant IPOB members amnesty is misguided, baseless, and lacks understanding. What IPOB needs is the release of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu KANU, and a UN-supervised Biafra Referendum.
“We disagree with Chief Iwanyanwu on his call for a baseless amnesty because IPOB members are not criminals. We are a self-determination agitation group. We have not waged war against the federal government of Nigeria irrespective of all their provocations.
“We are not fighting to control our vast resources. We are unarmed freedom fighters for the sovereignty and Independence of the people of Biafra to save our lives.
“Biafra is what we want and Biafra we must get. If Nigeria fails to give us a referendum for Biafrans to decide their fate in this unholy and unworkable one-Nigeria, no one should blame IPOB for what will happen next.”
