IPOB rejects UK offer of asylum

The United Kingdom effort to appease Igbo by offering the secessionists among them asylum has been rejected.

The arrowhead of the Biafran agitation and IOB leader Nnamdi Kanu has consistently criticized the UK for its role in Nigeria’s current predicament, and that of the Igbo people.

Following the announcement of the visa policy, the IPOBs leader swiftly rejected the offer of the British government, saying what it wants now a sovereign Biafra.

In a statement on Tuesday, IPOB, through its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, stated the group’s position.

“We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), ably led by our great and indomitable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has noted with satisfaction the news that the United Kingdom has agreed to grant asylum to persecuted Biafra agitators resident in the UK,” it said.

“While we commend them for this bold initiative, we wish to most graciously remind them that what we Biafrans need and cherish the most is a referendum and not asylum in the UK. We are tired of living in bondage in the devilish contraption called Nigeria they single-handedly created.

“We would not wish our children, now and generations unborn, to share the same geo-political space with those that reward terrorists and criminalise law-abiding citizens.

We particularly thank the UK government for confirming what the rest of the civilized world already know that the great IPOB worldwide family are not terrorists but peaceful agitators and freedom fighters.

“That Nigeria is a country run by terrorists for the benefit of terrorists has been confirmed by this noble move by the United Kingdom. Aso Rock, the seat of power in Nigeria is a terrorist haven with serving ministers who are openly sympathetic to terrorists and their activities, coming and going as they please, while freedom fighters are languishing in jail.

“We want freedom, not asylum,” IPOB said.

Meanwhile, the federal government may summon UK’s envoy over the decision.

IPO was outlawed few years ago, after the federal government and the governors of the southeaster states declared the group a terrorist association.