Human rights lawyer and lead counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has warned criminal elements in the South-East against turning the region’s liberation struggle into a criminal enterprise.

Ejiofor gave the warning on Saturday in a statement titled: “Weekend Musings: The South-East Must Never Bleed Again: The Peril of False Labels, Criminal Impunity, and the Collective Duty to Defend Peace – When Every Criminal Is Conveniently Called IPOB, Who Then Is Hunting the Real Killers?”

He pointed out that over the years, he has remained one of the very few voices from the South-East who consistently warned against those who had transformed the legitimate aspirations for self-determination into a thriving industry of violence, extortion, fear, and death.

He said that, at enormous personal risk, he devoted countless public interventions to exposing the dangerous contradictions, falsehoods and destructive tendencies of individuals whose stock-in-trade had become the merchandising of blood under the seductive banner of liberation.

“For daring to challenge this dangerous deception, I was vilified. I was declared persona non grata in certain quarters. I received threats. Yet, I deliberately continued travelling throughout Alaigbo because no freeborn son should be intimidated into abandoning the land of his ancestors by merchants of violence masquerading as liberators,” he said.

Ejiofor noted that Alaigbo today enjoys relative peace, stressing that such peace was neither accidental nor cheaply won.

According to him, the peace came at a tremendous human cost and must never again be surrendered to criminal elements.

“Recent disturbing developments, however, deserve our immediate attention. Videos allegedly showing certain criminal elements issuing threats to make Alaigbo ungovernable once more, together with disturbing incidents reportedly emerging from communities such as Umulolo and Arondizuogu, should concern every conscientious Igbo son and daughter.

“Equally disturbing are what appear to be desperate attempts in some quarters to indiscriminately classify every criminal actor as an IPOB member, irrespective of the available facts,” he stated.

He said the painful reality is that the emotional attachment of many Igbo people to the historical ideal of Biafra has often rendered them vulnerable to manipulation.

According to him, when emotions completely eclipse reason, discernment becomes the first casualty.

Ejiofor said this had made it possible for certain individuals to make astonishing and fantastical declarations without the slightest scrutiny.

“They assured vulnerable followers that the restoration of Biafra had already become inevitable on specifically announced dates. They claimed that warships had mysteriously arrived. They spoke of fighter jets allegedly hovering in readiness. Every prophecy failed. Every promise evaporated. Every prediction collapsed under the weight of reality.

“Financial contributions continued.

“The deception continued.

“Meanwhile, Alaigbo paid the ultimate price.

“While fantasies flourished on social media, mothers buried their children. Fathers abandoned their ancestral homes. Businesses collapsed. Entire communities became deserted after dusk. Fear became the unofficial currency of daily existence, while innocent blood flowed with terrifying regularity.

“Today, painful developments increasingly suggest that those tragic years may not have been orchestrated by isolated actors alone. Emerging realities indicate that certain individuals once held in high esteem may have either actively collaborated with or silently enabled the machinery that plunged our homeland into unprecedented insecurity. History will eventually assign every participant his appropriate place.

“Silence would have been the easier option. Conscience chose otherwise.

“Thankfully, through the decisive intervention of the leadership of the Directorate of State (DOS), the vigilance of our various communities, the cooperation of traditional institutions, and the commitment of genuinely professional security agencies, a substantial degree of normalcy gradually returned to our homeland,” he stated.

Ejiofor argued that weaponising false narratives would never defeat insecurity but would instead protect the real architects of bloodshed.

He stressed that criminals have no ethnicity, terrorists have no legitimate cause, and murderers deserve no ideological sanctuary.

“There is perhaps no greater tragedy than a people who survive one season of terror only to watch, in silence, the ominous clouds of another gathering on their horizon.

“History, if honestly interrogated, teaches one immutable lesson: societies rarely perish because they lacked warnings; they perish because they ignored them. It is therefore in the spirit of civic responsibility, not sensationalism, that I once again raise this solemn alarm.

“Insecurity has never worn a single face. It constantly reinvents itself, borrows new identities, appropriates noble causes, manipulates public emotions, and recruits the unsuspecting through carefully manufactured propaganda. Criminality thrives most where truth is deliberately obscured,” Ejiofor added.

He further stated that indiscriminate labelling serves neither justice nor national security.

“It merely clouds investigations, shields the actual perpetrators, misdirects security operations, deepens public distrust, and ultimately emboldens criminal networks.

“No serious society defeats organised crime by substituting evidence with convenient assumptions.

“Justice demands precision.

“Security requires intelligence.

“The rule of law insists upon facts, not conjecture.

“Those who commit kidnapping, murder, extortion, arson, or terrorism deserve to be identified for exactly what they are: criminals. They should neither be romanticised as freedom fighters nor casually labelled without credible evidence. Criminal responsibility must remain personal, individual, and evidence-driven.

“False classification is itself a dangerous enemy of effective security architecture.

“It is impossible to successfully hunt the true predator while deliberately chasing the wrong shadow.

“Consequently, every criminal operating under whatever disguise — whether invoking self-determination, political ideology, religion, ethnicity, or any other convenient pretext — must be decisively confronted and prosecuted strictly in accordance with the law.

“The law exists precisely to distinguish between lawful advocacy and criminal enterprise.

“Our collective responsibility is therefore straightforward.

“We must deny every criminal organisation the oxygen of public sympathy.

“We must deny every violent actor the luxury of ideological camouflage.

“We must deny every sponsor of insecurity the comfort of political protection.

“We must deny every propagandist the opportunity to deceive another generation.

“Questions also remain deserving of public clarification. Nigerians, particularly Ndi Igbo, still deserve comprehensive explanations regarding previous official announcements suggesting that certain notorious criminal elements had been neutralised, only for some of those same individuals, or similarly identified actors, to later re-emerge in disturbing circumstances.

“Public confidence in security institutions is strengthened not merely by operational successes but also by transparency and accountability,” he added.

According to him, as the 2027 general elections gradually approach, history warns Nigerians to remain vigilant.

He stated that election seasons have too often attracted desperate political actors willing to weaponise insecurity for strategic advantage, financial gain, or political manipulation.

Ejiofor warned that the lives of innocent citizens must never again become expendable instruments in the pursuit of political ambition.

“Enough must truly mean enough.

“Peace is not the responsibility of government alone. It is the shared obligation of traditional rulers, community leaders, the clergy, youth organisations, civil society, market associations, professional bodies, parents, and every conscientious citizen.

“Security is strongest where communities refuse to protect criminals.

“Alaigbo has already travelled this painful road before.

“We have buried too many promising young men.

“We have mourned too many innocent victims.

“We have watched too many businesses disappear.

“We have endured too many avoidable tears.

“We simply cannot afford another cycle of organised bloodshed.

“Never again.

“The time for decisive collective vigilance is not tomorrow.

“It is now.

“Not next week.

“Not after another tragedy.

“Not after another funeral.

“Now.

“Let every responsible citizen become a stakeholder in preserving the fragile peace we have painstakingly rebuilt.

“Let intelligence replace rumour.

“Let evidence replace propaganda.

“Let unity replace suspicion.

“Let courage replace silence.

“Above all, let every criminal know that Alaigbo shall never again become a theatre for organised violence disguised as liberation.

“Peace is no longer negotiable.

“Alaigbo must remain peaceful.

“Permanently,” he added. (TRIBUNE)