The Federal Government has said it knows the sources of funding of the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB ) and is taking steps to block them.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made the revelation on Tuesday when he appeared on a live TV program, Good Morning Nigeria on the Nigeria Television Authority ( NTA ).
Mohammed said: “Terrorists do not publish where their funding are coming from. But we know the countries that are supporting IPOB.
“We know the sources of their funding though I am not at liberty to disclose them here.
“We are taking steps to block them and we are also taking a lot of diplomatic actions in respect of the countries that are supporting them.”
He explained that most of the nations backing the group were doing so based on ignorance.
Mohammed noted that such countries have been tricked to believe the lie that Nigeria is a country where Muslims persecute Christians and a country where there is genocide.
“As we speak today, IPOB has written letters to many Governments outside Nigeria, international parliaments sending fake and cloned videos claiming there is genocide in Nigeria,” he said.
Mohammed appealed to the international community to reject the double standard in dealing with IPOB and to be more diligent before making any pronouncements. He said what the countries would never accept in their territories, should not be condoned or encouraged in Nigeria.
He vindicated the measures taken by the military, especially for declaring IPOB a terrorist group as well as its proscription by the South-East governors.
The minister said: “There are a lot of arguments regarding the constitutionality of the action of the military and the South East governors.
“People must realise that we are dealing with issue of national security and I do not think that the military and the governors should fold their arms while the country is set ablaze.
“I have heard a lot of comments as to whether the military has the right to declare IPOB, a terrorist group.
“What the military has done is to catalogue all the activities of IPOB, which are not different from that of terrorists groups.”
IPOB set up a para-military organisation, a parallel military group, Biafra Secret Service and Biafra National Guard, the minister revealed.
He said the group was attacking army installations and soldiers at check points, extorting money from innocent people.
“IPOB activities are not jokes. If there have not been the proactive actions on the part of the military and the South East governors, there would have been retaliations from other regions and the entire country will be set on fire,” he said.
“We cannot be talking of semantics or procedure when the nation is moving towards crises and precipices.
“The actions by the military and the governors should be seen from the perspective of ensuring internal security and averting chaos.”
Mohammed restated that IPOB was sponsored by wounded politicians in the country. He called on media and opinion leaders to scrutinize well, their publications and discussions on IPOB to avoid worsening the crises.
