Attacks on INEC offices, attempt to stop Peter Obi’s supporters from voting — IPOB alleges

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has condemned attacks on the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nationwide.

IPOB has described it as an attempt to stop supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi from participating in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election.

IPOB has dismissed the claims that its members were the masterminders of the attacks on INEC offices.

This was revealed in a statement produced by the group’s spokesman, Emma Powerful.

The spokesperson said: “This media blackmail against IPOB with INEC facilities burnings are for two reasons: First, to deceive the International Community to regard IPOB as a group obstructing democratic processes in Nigeria’s election.

“Secondly, it is a plan to rig the 2023 elections by disenfranchising a lot of Biafran voters against Peter Obi’s political base, thereby making Biafran voters blame IPOB for Obi’s failure when they rig him out.

“This is a divide and conquer strategy. Our people must understand this game and be guided and act wisely.” Powerful stated.

While reacting to the allegation that the IPOB was the sponsor of the attack at INEC offices, the group’s spokesman said “IPOB has no business or reason to burn any INEC office.

“We tell Nigeria and its agencies to stop slinging mud because it is not sticking. We are IPOB, our hands are clean, and we are justified in our quest for a free Biafra Nation.

Meanwhile, following Monday’s attack on the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Imo youths under the auspices of the Global Association of Concerned Imo Youths (GACIY) have urged the commission not to succumb to pressure from hoodlums to derail the forthcoming general elections.

In a separate statement in Owerri on Thursday signed by the President of the group, Collins Ughala and reads in part thus: “We stand with INEC at this hour and urge it to remain resolute and resist every attempt to subvert the elections.”

The group noted that it is impossible not to link the opposition to the insecurity in the State because they would be the beneficiaries should the government crumble.

“To Imo youths, and many other stakeholders, it is impossible to exculpate opposition elements from this crime wave, after all, they stand to benefit the most if this administration crumbles not to mention their seditious statements exposed in leaked audio tapes”.

The youths also while commending the efforts of the security agencies in the state in their swift confrontation of the hoodlums added that: “This feat destroys the myth of invincibility around gunmen who put their trust in voodoo, amulets and cannibalism.

“We believe that had this attack succeeded, citizens’, not to mention voters’, confidence would have been badly tempered. Thanks to our heroic officers, it did not.

“While we expect bandits and their collaborators to continue to pay a heavy price for their recalcitrance, we ask our youths to resist negative peer pressure and gang culture no matter the temptation,” Ughala said.