A foremost secessionist group in the South-East geo-political zone has been delisted from the terrorism list ranking it among the deadliest terror groups in the world.
In a recent report by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) was listed as the 10th deadliest terror group responsible for 40 attacks and 57 deaths in 2022.
In a statement posted on its website on Monday, the institute retracted its earlier report, instead now referring to IPOB as a pro-Biafra secessionist movement and not a terrorist group.
In its statement titled; “Statement regarding Indigenous People of the Biafra (IPOB) & the Global Terrorism Index”, the institute said “The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is a pro-Biafra secessionist movement based in Southeast Nigeria that aims to establish an independent state of Biafra.
“IPOB was proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government in 2017. In recent years, IPOB has been linked to several attacks, which have been attributed to its paramilitary wing, the Eastern Security Network (IPOB-ESN). The group has not claimed responsibility for any of these attacks.
“It is important therefore to differentiate between the peaceful activities of the group and its alleged involvement in violent activity. We have today updated the Global Terrorism Index 2023 to reflect this necessary clarification,” the U.S. institute tried to clarify.
Reacting to the development, Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed IPOB, stated that protests from IPOB and various Igbo support groups forced the clarification by the Australian-based Institute.
Mr Ejimakor urged media houses that published the previous GTI report, to also publish the retraction in the interest of balanced reporting.
