The Traffic

IPOB Denies Attacking Truck Drivers In South-East, Says It's Government Blackmail 

By Achimi muktar 

IPOB was reacting to a protest staged in Jos, Plateau State, by a group of Northern truck drivers who claimed that their colleagues had been attacked in the South-East. 

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denied allegations that its members attacked truck drivers transporting goods to the South-East, dismissing the claims as a government-sponsored attempt to blackmail the group.

In a statement issued on Monday by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, titled “Northern Truck Drivers Sponsored to Blackmail IPOB,” IPOB described the accusations as false and politically motivated.

IPOB was reacting to a protest staged in Jos, Plateau State, by a group of Northern truck drivers who claimed that their colleagues had been attacked in the South-East. 

In the statement, the IPOB spokesperson insisted that the group had no reason to harm those supplying goods to the region.

He stated, “The attention of the global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) has been drawn to the fallacious and sponsored protest staged in the Northern city of Jos, Plateau State, claiming that IPoB attacked truck drivers in the South-East.” 

He further alleged that the Nigerian government and the drivers he alleged had been sponsored, were behind the accusations, describing them as another calculated attempt to tarnish IPOB’s image.

Powerful stated, “For a decade since IPoB started, we have been confronted with various state-sponsored blackmail and media propaganda aimed at portraying IPoB as a violent movement. IPOB’s only crime against the Nigerian state is our demand for self-determination via a referendum.”

Powerful reiterated that neither IPOB members nor its security arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), engage in attacks on truck drivers or any other civilians.

“IPoB and ESN members are not violent and do not engage in attacking or killing people. We cannot confirm any attack or killing of truck drivers in the South-East Region. 

“We assume that such a claim by the sponsored protesting drivers in Plateau State is unfounded,” Powerful said.

It also questioned the logic of attacking those it has consistently defended, arguing, “Even if such an incident happened, why would IPOB members or ESN operatives attack innocent truck drivers conveying goods to our region?”

IPOB accused those behind the Jos protest of being the same people responsible for fueling insecurity in the South-East.

“Those that sponsored the touts they called truck drivers in Plateau State to falsely accuse IPOB are the same people sponsoring insecurity in the region,” the statement added.

IPOB therefore called on the public to disregard what it described as “propaganda”, insisting that it remains committed to its cause through peaceful means.