Biafra separatists sponsored by opposition, says minister

ABUJA: A Nigerian minister accused the government’s political opponents of sponsoring a campaign for secession in a part of south-east Nigeria formerly known as Biafra, where unrest is rising.

Secessionist sentiment has simmered in the south-east since the Biafra separatist rebellion plunged Africa’s most populous country into a civil war from 1967 to 1970 that killed an estimated 1 million people.

Campaigners from the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) have intensified calls for secession since their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was released on bail in April. He was detained for nearly two years on charges of criminal conspiracy and belonging to an illegal society.

The military on Friday labelled Ipob a “terrorist organisation” after a week in which it was accused of surrounding Kanu’s home, which it denied, and a curfew was imposed. Lai Mohammed, the information minister, said on Sunday that Ipob was set up as “a tool to destabilise the nation”, sponsored by people he called a “coalition of the politically disgruntled and the treasury looters”.

“They believe by sponsoring this group to destabilise the country and trigger chaos they will escape justice and be free to dip their hands into the nation’s treasury again.”

The minister said Kanu had publicly supported Nigeria’s unity when President Muhammadu Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, was in power. A number of former officials have faced corruption charges, which they have denied, since Buhari took office. The opposition People’s Democratic Party has accused the president of a witchhunt against its members.