Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammedh
The Federal Government has lambasted some western countries who it claimed were giving credence to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group it has designated as terrorist organisation.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the observation in Washington DC, US during his official engagements with some international media and policy institutes on the just concluded 2023 polls.
“IPOB is a terrorist organisation so declared by the Nigeria Government, yet some western countries harbour them and have been dealing with the illegal body. They allow them to raise funds, some allow them to lobby their Congress men and lawmakers and whatever fund they realise they use it to destabilise the country,” the minister said.
Mohammed said it was hypocritical for the western world to claim it was fighting terrorism yet turn around to be supporting a terrorist organisation.
He also used the opportunity of the interactions to call on foreign media to stop regurgitating social media fables on the Nigeria’s 2023 elections on their platforms.
He said they should be critical and interrogate the information they get on social media before reporting them on their platforms.
A federal high court, Abuja, had declared IPOB a terrorist organisation in 2017 after the Nigerian army and south-eastern governors proscribed the activities of the group.
Although the United Kingdom government had recognised the proscription of the group, several other Western countries are yet to follow suit.
According to the 2023 global terrorism index (GTI), IPOB ranked as the 10th deadliest terror group in the world.
The report claimed that the group was responsible for 40 attacks and 57 deaths in 2022.
Credit: Daily Sun