IPOB proscription: Omokri accuses FG of hypocrisy, says herdsmen considered terrorists by US, EU
Reno Omokri, former media aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, says the US has exposed the hypocrisy of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in the war against terrorism.
He said this while reacting to the position of the US government that it does not consider the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) a terrorist organisation, days after a federal high court in Abuja said activities of the group constituted terrorism.
In a video posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, Omokri said “killer herdsmen” in the country deserve the terrorism tag “much more” than IPOB.
He accused the government of ignoring the activities of the herdsmen — “identified as terrorists by the US and the UK” — and clamping down on IPOB.
He said while herdsmen are currently ranked the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the whole world by the global terrorism index, IPOB “is not even featured in the index, yet our government calls them terrorists”.
“The herdsmen who are considered terrorists by the US, the UK, the European Union and even the World Economic Forum are not considered terrorists by the Nigerian government. But the people who are not considered terrorists by these countries and groups are the ones the Nigerian government is considering as terrorists,” Omokri said.
“The dictionary defines a terrorist as someone who unlawfully uses violence to achieve political aims. And by the dictionary definition, you can see that herdsmen actually fits into the category of a terrorist more than IPOB.
“How many people have IPOB members killed? Have they gone and killed people in northern Nigeria, or in south-western Nigeria or in the south-south? No.
“The herdsmen are currently the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the whole world yet our government says these herdsmen are not terrorists.”
Omokri, however, added that he is not in support of IPOB, saying, “in fact they have declared me persona non-grata and had attacked me at various times; I am only a supporter of truth”.
He wondered how soon before the government declares the Oodua Peoples Congress and some groups in the south-south as terrorists, having meted a similar treatment to IPOB.
“I’ve read the Bible and the Koran, so I know where things are coming from. Even Prophet Mohammad does not support this kind of injustice that the Buhari administration is perpetuating,” he said.
The issue of IPOB proscription has also exposed lack of good diplomatic relations between Nigeria and the west. There’s been a row with France, UK, and now US.