IPOB denies killing Ebonyi-born Muslim cleric

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denied involvement in the recent killing of an Islamic cleric in Ebonyi State.

A Muslim cleric, who hails from Ebonyi State and converted to the Muslim faith, Sheikh Ibrahim Iyiorji, was recently murdered in the state by unidentified gunmen.

Speculations were that the IPOB might be responsible for the murder, but the group said killing Muslims was not part of its mandate.

In a press release by the spokesperson of the group, Mr Emma Powerful, he said killing a Muslim will add nothing to its quest for the Biafra Republic.

Part of the release read: “IPOB does not engage in such barbaric killings and cannot be part of such heinous crime against humanity. IPOB does not kill flies talk of human beings and an Igbo man for that matter, irrespective of his religious belief.

“Important questions to ask are: why will IPOB kill this Igbo Islamic cleric? Is he a threat to Biafra movement? How many of our known enemies have we killed?”

The group stated that Nigerian security agencies were fond of stage-managing confessions from criminals with the hope of indicting them.

They added that criminals tagged as unknown gunmen were not part of IPOB, stating that their activities are in the open and cannot be described as unknown.

“Some unscrupulous elements and petty thieves are constantly stage-managed by security agents to lie against IPOB members and ESN operatives.

“IPOB and ESN never killed any Army officer, Police officer, or DSS agent despite all provocations in the name of unknown gunmen since we started pursuing Biafra freedom.

“IPOB and ESN are not hiding its activities and cannot be called unknown gunmen because we are not faceless nor cowards. We are fearless before our enemies.”