Police, IYC Warn IPOB Members to Steer Clear of Bayelsa State
- The activities of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (lPOB) have fueled violence in several parts of the country
- Many states and groups want nothing to do with the outlawed group due to their recent violent activities
- In Bayelsa, police authorities and a prominent sub-national group have warned the secessionists to stay away from their state
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Yenagoa - The Bayelsa police command and Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) have warned members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (lPOB) to leave the state.
This as police authorities in Bayelsa raised an alarm that it has uncovered plans by the proscribed group to set up camps in the state.
The state commissioner of police, Mr. Mike Okoli, made the revelation in a statement sent to journalists and seen by Legit.ng on Thursday, June 3.
Source: Getty Images
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He also warned members of the public in the state to steer clear of any form of association with the outlawed group.
He, however, assured residents that police operatives in the state were on the trail of the IPOB members and monitoring their activities.
The Bayelsa police boss warned that the command would deal decisively with any person or group of persons that attempt to disrupt the prevailing peaceful security situation in the state.
Similarly, the IYC warned members of IPOB to desist from holding any planned meeting in Bayelsa.
Chairman of the central zone of the IYC, Clever Inodu, in a statement seen by Legit.ng, said the activities of IPOB are capable of breaching peace in the state if left unchecked.
He noted that the IYC would not permit any meeting of IPOB in the state even if they formally apply, stressing that Bayelsa will not be the place for them to push their secessionist agenda.
He warned leaders of IPOB not to test their resolve to keep the state peaceful and called on all hotel owners and event centres not to rent their halls or premises to members of the group.
He said:
“Ijaw nationality has been in existence even before the so-called IPOB, I, therefore, call on leaders of the IPOB to desist on any planned meeting in the state with the intent of spreading a message of secession that is capable of breaching the existing peace and security in the state.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Laolu Akande, spokesman to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has debunked comments attributed to his boss regarding IPOB, calling them a deliberate falsehood.
Akande, who was featured on a weekly network radio show monitored by Legit.ng on Thursday, June 3 said there was never a time the VP said the Federal Executive Council must "crush" any group with "by fire by thunder."
He also said it's fake news that Osinbajo asked Nigerians to pray for any group of people perpetrating violence instead of melting out justice to them.
In a related development, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state has appealed to Igbo youths to give peace a chance in Nigeria.
The governor made the comment during his address at the National Assembly Constitutional Review Committee public hearing for Imo and Abia states, held in Owerri on Wednesday, May 26.
He urged the Igbo youths to see the ongoing public hearing for the 1999 constitutional review as a key opportunity to be duly represented and take the rightful place Igbos deserve.
Source: Legit.ng
