The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has expressed worry over the publication of unsigned press statements in the media by shadowy individuals who are allegedly working for politicians with the sole intention of misleading the public.

IPOB urged media houses to refrain from publishing any press statement from anonymous sources.

In a statement made available to journalists in Awka and signed by IPOB’s Head of Directorate of State, Mazi Chika Edoziem, on Monday, the group accused people in the pay roll of APC Federal Government of taking it upon themselves to plant fake news in the public domain urging them to understand they are undermining public trust in the media.

The statement reads: “They should not allow themselves to become unwitting agents of fake news as may appear to be the case in the ongoing effort by Okezie Ikpeazu, Nnia Nwodo and Lai Mohammed’s Ministry of Information in collaboration with DSS to mislead the masses into thinking that IPOB is factionilised when such is not the case.

“Verification of the source of every information and statement given for publication will help identify and isolate those bent on spreading falsehood. Similar standards must be applied to purported statements issued by faceless persons claiming they are part of the great IPOB worldwide family.

“Reputable media houses should not publish statements from person or persons they themselves know don’t exist. An unsigned press statement is confirmation that the information being peddled is false because you can’t link it to any source.

“To prove that the latest ‘Okwudili’ installment is fake and going by their latest statement, nobody was identified as having signed the statement, it only said ‘news made available to’. In the interest of public confidence, we would like to ask media houses to please confirm the existence of person or persons issuing public statements regarding IPOB before publishing such.

“When the presidency admitted yesterday that they have not after all defeated Boko Haram, we knew that a diversionary story will be planted in the media and surprisingly, their favorite fake news about the fake ‘IPOB leader’ surfaced again this morning. The only reason why this government could have coerced the media to carry this fake news about a non-existent ‘new IPOB leader’ is because they know IPOB is more popular than Nigeria while Nnamdi Kanu is more acceptable than any politician in Nigeria.”

IPOB recalled that not too long ago, the media was awash with the false narrative that IPOB had been defeated, weakened and crushed. It accused the Chief Nnia Nwodo-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Department of State Service (DSS) and elements within the South East Governors Forum of making considerable amount of financial gain and political capital out of perpetuating the myth that IPOB is no more.

Continuing, the statement said: “When it dawned on them that we IPOB are now even more potent than before the advent of Operation Python Dance II, given the successful boycott of Anambra governorship elections, they have re-strategised and re-engineered the narrative into a split within IPOB.

“Nnia Nwodo has been heard on many occasions recently boasting to his Northern handlers in the presidency that ‘IPOB is riddled with factions and I’m in touch with leaders of these factions’.

“Nothing can be farther from the truth. He is peddling this myth to justify the money he collected from the presidency to sabotage the divinely ordained Biafra restoration project.

“To stop shameless corrupt politicians from further misinforming the public about the operations of IPOB, we have alerted all major governments of the world to be mindful of every information they receive from persons claiming to be part of IPOB. In this regard,

“We hereby inform the world that unless a correspondence emanates from IPOB world headquarters in Langenfeld Germany, signed and sealed by Mazi Uche Mefor, deputy leader of IPOB, and Mazi Chika Edoziem, Head of Directorate of State, such document should be ignored. Enemies of freedom are going to extra ordinary length to subvert the will of the people but we assure them they will never succeed.

“We reiterate our call to Okezie Ikpeazu, Nnia Nwodo, DSS and Federal Ministry of Information to ask their fake ‘IPOB leader’ to tell the world who he operates for, where he comes from or which IPOB unit he belongs to. Planting written anonymous unsigned press statements in the Nigerian media with the hope that highly intelligent followership of IPOB, the largest freedom fighting movement in the world, will succumb to such nonsensical subterfuge is mere wishful thinking.”