Why IPOB and OPC Are Similar to Boko Haram - Ex-Chief of Army Staff
- Abdulrahman Dambazau, a former minister of interior, has expressed concerns over the activities of OPC and IPOB
- The former minister said the agenda of the groups do not benefit the nation
- The retired army general tells police how to handle ethnic tension across the country
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A former minister of interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, has said there are similarities between the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC), the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Boko Haram.
According to The Cable, Dambazau, who is a retired army general and a past chief of army staff, described the OPC and the IPOB as extremist groups.
Source: Twitter
He made the statement on Friday, April 9, at the inauguration of Army War College Nigeria Course 5/2021 in Abuja.
The former minister explained that both groups are exhibiting features similar to that of Boko Haram when the insurgent group started out in 2009.
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Dambazau said:
“They are all non-state actors; they all have separatist agenda to carve out states out of Nigeria’s territory; they all do not believe in the Nigerian project, its unity and peaceful co-existence just like BH.
“They are also beginning their projects by attacking security forces and those they consider their enemies.''
According to Daily Trust, he stated that both groups are trying to ignite inter-ethnic conflicts by attacking northern residents.
The retired general said:
“We see parallels between BH, a religious extremist group and the IPOB and OPC, both ethnic extremist groups. All the three groups operate on the platform of extremism.”
He advised that the police should be actively involved in dousing the ethnic tension across the country.
Meanwhile, a retired Assistant Inspector of Police, Ambrose Aisabor, has said secession group, the IPOB is stockpiling weapons by attacking and looting security formations.
Aisabor told Daily Trust that the group aims to achieve the Biafra Republic by engaging in war with the Nigerian government.
The former police officer said the failure of intelligence on the part of the security agencies has enabled the group to carry out attacks unchecked.
In another report, a presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, has argued that there will never be a Republic of Biafra again.
The senior special assistant on social media to the president in a tweet on Monday, April 5, said the Republic of Biafra died the day secessionist forces surrendered to the then head of state, Yakubu Gowon.
Onochie shared a video showing the then Head of State, receiving the then Biafran Vice President, Major General Philip Effiong, who facilitated the surrender of the Biafran State to Nigeria in 1970.
Source: Legit.ng
