THE Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has proven that it is not a terrorist organisation by the cancellation of its one-week sit-at-home exercise, the former Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs Doyin Okupe has said.
Okupe said this in a statement to newsmen on Saturday.
He said the group’s sit-at-home cancellation was heartwarming.
“This decision of IPOB is a very reasonable one coming from an organisation, whose major concern is justice, equity and self-determination for its people,” he said.
“By this singular act of compassionate and progressive civility in furtherance of our democracy, IPOB, to my mind, has proved unequivocally that it is not a terrorist organisation, rather it is one that can be called to a round table to reason with.”
He reiterated the calls he made earlier this week asking the Federal Government to open a window of opportunity for peaceful negotiation with the detained IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu and the entire group in the interest of peace in the South-East region.
There were mounting concerns regarding the credibility of Anambra gubernatorial election after IPOB declared a one-week-long sit-at-home in the South-East region.
But in a statement by its Spokesperson Emma Powerful on Thursday, IPOB announced the suspension of the exercise.
Powerful cited the pleas and intervention by elders in the region.
It urged the people of Anambra State to go out and vote in large numbers for any candidate of their choice on Saturday, November 6, peacefully and feel free to exercise their franchise.
The group, however, claimed it had credible intelligence suggesting that the State Security Service (SSS) had concluded arrangements to deploy a branch of their group to Anambra State on the election day to unleash mayhem on the people and blame it on IPOB.
The secessionist group called on Anambra citizens to be vigilant and avoid rigging of any kind.
The group was outlawed and declared a terrorist organisation by President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in 2017.
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