Few months ago, persons who later claimed to be members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB waylaid the former deputy president of the senate, Ike Ekweremadu in far away Germany and gave him a thorough beating. It was a huge embarrassment to the Enugu senator even more so for the country. People have the right to protest but to target, harass, humiliate, hit, beat, and tear the cloths of a person in another country simply because of political differences is barbaric. We are still waiting for German authorities to see what they will do to those suspected to have carried out the attack. Not long after, Nnamdi Kanu claimed that he has instructed his members to do the same thing to any other politician of Igbo extraction who visited Europe.
Few weeks after the German incident, there was a conference in Japan where President Muhammadu Buhari attended with other African leaders. IPOB which is proscribed in Nigeria and termed a terrorist organization told its members in Japan to arrest Buhari when they see him. Later video clips emerged of some charlatans who invaded the home of the Nigerian ambassador in that country purporting to be carrying out the orders of its leader to indeed arrest the visiting Nigerian president. They had a mild scuffle with the Japanese police and people laughed this off.
Last week, the president visited South Africa in his bid to find lasting solutions to the recurrent xenophobic attacks on black foreigners in South Africa. The attacks have affected mostly Nigerians. Beyond the attacks is the idea of xenophobia (that is) hating of foreigners which South Africans are well known for. They loathe Nigerians and confess of this inferiority complex a lot of times in different situations. It is within this confusion that persons who claim to be members of IPOB staged a protest against Buhari. They held flags and other memorabilia which removed every doubt about what they stand for.
They also claimed to have been attacked by the SA police. They showed off their wounds to buttress their claims. This kind of behaviour is akin to committing suicide! The South African people have shown their disdain for our country men and women residing in their country. In trying to find solutions to these issues, a faction of the hated Nigerians decides to showcase their own hatred of their president while promoting another country. By this act, it is now easy to target these groups of people even via illegal means to oust them from their country since it is obvious the South African authorities will never encourage any group to use their country to plan or execute insurrection in Nigeria.
Not only that, it should be condemned by Nigerians the hatred that IPOB continues to promote hiding under freedom of speech. It is surprising that the event in South Africa has not been condemned by Igbo leaders especially Ohaneze. The continuous denigration of the office of the president of Nigeria by unrelenting allegations of a purported clone or dead president is not to be taken lightly. It appears to us that this is a carefully planned message to denigrate and indeed incite hatred to President Buhari as a person or his ethnic group. It is not going to do the South East any political favours in future. But more importantly it is not going to do the so called members of IPOB in South Africa any good in their host country. A country which its people now profile Nigerians according to tribe too.
We condemn the obnoxious behaviour of IPOB and call on them to desist from continuing the desecration of the Nigerian state. They are free to advocate whatever it is they believe in, however that should not be to the detriment of the corporate existence of the country and their own peaceful co-existence in another country.
Nigeria has its problems, but it should not be distracted by those who do not wish her well. Everyone has the right to pursue their political ideas with the limitations of Nigerian law and express same through the ballot box. The ballot box is funny, it may go against you today, but in another four years situations may change. This is why democracy is still the best form of government especially multiparty democracy.
