The Attack on a Catholic Priest, a Tactless Attempt to Blackmail IPOB

June 4, 2019

By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie | Biafra Writers

Following the successful observation of the sit-at-home order issued by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in honour of Biafra fallen heroes and heroines, sons of perdition have surfaced with narratives of violence. These unscrupulous elements tell stories of a Catholic priest in Nnewi, precisely at Ibeto Junction, beaten to coma, claiming that the evil was perpetrated by IPOB members working to force the said priest to observe the sit-at-home.

This is not the first time IPOB is being maliciously and falsely accused of stuff like this. Not long ago, it was one Prophet Anthony Nwoko whose lifeless body was said to be found battered and in pool of blood. The Nigerian state working so hard to justify the proscription and terrorist tag on IPOB, hired detractors like our derailed brother, Asari Dokubo, to accuse Nnamdi Kanu of masterminding the old man’s death. The compromised media ran away with it, doing all it could to paint Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB black. The baby saboteurs went to work, jumping up like crickets and polluting the cyberspace with bunkums … of course they have to work hard to earn money for their milk and palp. Well, they said they are investigating the said murder. We are still awaiting the outcome of the police investigation. Disappointingly, till this moment we haven’t been shown ordinary pictures of the battered body of the poor man in a pool of blood as claimed.  Yes, they said his battered body was found lying in a pool of blood. Shouldn’t they show the public the battered body in a pool of blood?

The other time, after shooting, killing and injuring IPOB members on peaceful procession, the Nigerian police seeking to excuse their murderous activities, claimed IPOB attacked and killed one of them. To make the story stick, one of them volunteered to fall into a nearby gutter with his colleagues taking snapshots of him inside the gutter and forwarding to the conniving Nigeria media who went to work immediately, propagating the falsehood without bothering to investigate the matter.  However, IPOB being smarter waited patiently on the death-feigning officer. Thinking the scene has been deserted, and with the stench of the dirty water taking a toll on him, the shameless officer rose to go. The waiting IPOB members then took snapshots of him rising from the gutter and walking away. The false accusation of the police and their conniving media outlets was laid to rest with these countering photographs.

It should be remembered that when the call for sit-at-home was made, the caliphate became rattled and worked fast to indulge some disruptive elements in the guise of Igbo leaders to antagonize it. These bad eggs did their bit, but of course, with IPOB media team bearing superior arguments, they were routed out. The people hearkened to Kanu’s voice and honoured their gone heroes. Defeated, the detractors came up with another ploy – blackmail. Cheap one for that matter.

We don’t beat priests in our land. Even masquerades don’t. Biafrans know the position and importance of priests in the society. Come to that, the call to sit at home was never compulsive; rather, it was an appeal to our sense of reason. Nobody was forced to sit back home, Biafrans willingly did so …having realized the gravity of the sacrifices of their fallen heroes. If the story of beating up a priest going for morning mass is true, how come there is no other such story elsewhere? Or was it only Nnewi that observed the sit-at-home? If truly IPOB used force to get the people to comply with the sit-at-home order, then the violence would have been resonant across the length and breadth of Biafra. But lo, it wasn’t. Such story was never heard elsewhere.

Of course, such negative stories and accusations are calculated to deflect attention from the huge success of the sit-at-home.  They spin such yarns to blanket the people’s sight and direct their mind away from the fact that no major market in Biafra land was opened for business on that sacred day of Biafra heroes, and that schools and offices were under lock and key.

IPOB is a nonviolence freedom fighting group with presence world over. Not at any time have they been found indulging in violence. Not at any time will they be. All attempts to dent its image are dead on arrival … to the glory of Chukwu Okike Abiama.

THE BIAFRA TIMES

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Publisher: Charles Opanwa