By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Monday pledged to collaborate with local security outfits where necessary to drive away criminal elements and killer herdsmen from Biafra Land.

The group In a statement made available to News Express by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, reiterated its position to the whole world in general and Nigerians in particular, that the fact every region in Nigeria is presently under siege by Fulani killer herdsmen and the march of jihad with the only exception being South-East and South-South is testament to the effectiveness of ESN.

It noted that by stopping the killers from the Sahel, be they ISWAP, Fulani killer herdsmen or their armed Sharia law advocates, ESN has continued to demonstrate loyalty to its core mandate of protecting the entire east from killer herdsmen and their affiliates.

The statement partly reads: ?As the only publicly recognised entity saddled with the sacred responsibility of keeping the East beyond the murderous reach of these hordes from the Sahel, ESN have and will continue to discharge this duty with every sense of honour and discipline.

?In this singular regard, IPOB has fulfilled its pledge to secure the borders of ancient Igboland (SE & SS) from the ravaging excesses of Fulani killer herdsmen. The fact that SE & SS governors are not lamenting the way their counterparts are presently doing in Yorubaland and the whole region of northern Nigeria is because of the stellar job ESN has done and will continue to do.

?That Igbo governors have chosen to side with the enemies of our people like Sheikh Gummi, who in concert with his fellow enablers of Fulani takeover of indigenous lands like ex-governor of Kaduna State El-Rufai, have fought tooth and nail since 2018 to have ESN disbanded to pave the way for the invasion of Igboland as they are now doing in Yorubaland.

?Indigenous peoples all across Nigeria are lamenting; Yoruba governors have come out openly to lament about the invasion of their ancestral lands. Amotekun is scrambling around looking for ways to contain these murderers but in the East ESN the excellent job ESN has done in confronting and forestalling this invasion into Biafran territory has gone unacknowledged by those who would rather like to use their political position to encourage the Fulani Janjaweed takeover and enslavement of Igboland.?

While commending ESN for the exceptionally marvelous job they continue to do to keep Igboland safe, IPOB stressed that the spokesmen for Fulani killer herdsmen and jihadists like Sheik Gummi will do everything within their powers to dip the Quoran in the Bight of Biafra in the Atlantic Ocean.

It adds: ?We assure him and his Igbo collaborators in government houses in Igboland that Biafraland will never be conquered the same way Hausa and Yoruba lands were conquered by Jihadists in times gone by. Anybody or group of persons hoping to use certain misguided South East Governors to demonise ESN in order to weaken its public acceptance is only wasting their time because ESN shall remain until all threats, real and imagined are eradicated from Igboland.

?For the record, IPOB is against every form of criminality and shall collaborate where necessary with local security outfits to drive away criminals sponsored by politicians, who are the people responsible for the orgy of crime and insecurity in Igboland.

?The mission of these Igbo governors/politicians, driven primarily by envy and jealousy towards Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu because of the popularity and global reach of IPOB, is to collaborate with historic enemies of the Igbo race to destroy IPOB, disband ESN and compel Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to abandon his God given mandate to lead the Biafran peoples to freedom through a UN supervised referendum.

?Their plans will never work. The desperate and shameful attempt by these politicians to attach every single incident of criminality or insecurity to ESN is idiotic and devoid of any logic. If ESN is responsible for insecurity, how come insecurity did not start in 2020 when ESN was created?

?Again we ask, how come insecurity did not start since 2012 when IPOB was formed? Insecurity was introduced into Igboland as a tool with which to blackmail IPOB to disband ESN and ultimately pressure Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to give up his quest for Biafra restoration through the ballot box.

?Only the gullible and ignorant will be deceived by these state sponsored and well-funded demonisation propaganda against IPOB, ESN and Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Reasonable people across Nigeria, Africa and the whole world are well aware of the high stakes game of subterfuge and deception going on because the true owners of Nigeria and their local agents masquerading as politicians are against genuine freedom for indigenous peoples across Nigeria.

?It took up until 2022 for what we are now witnessing as insecurity in Igboland to fully unfold. It?s a shame that people who are supposedly educated and capable of discernment have such short memory and cannot investigate or interrogate the information they receive.?

The group said that the same politicians and beneficiaries of insecurity in the security agencies that are running around, complaining about insecurity and linking it to IPOB and/or ESN are the same people that raised Finland based Simon Ekpa, whom they tried to use to infiltrate and ridicule IPOB?s legitimate quest for freedom.