Dare Babalola
Trial judge Justice James Omotoso has designated the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, as an international terrorist.
The judge, on Thursday, said this is due to his intention to bomb the British High Commission and to kill the then British high commissioner Catriona Laing.
In 2022, Kanu was accused of issuing a directive to people to kill Laing.
However, the proscribed group warned the then British High Commissioner to Nigeria to cancel her planned visit to the South-East region of the country.
IPOB made the call after it raised the alarm over an alleged plot to assassinate the envoy during her visit.
According to IPOB, which claimed it got the information through its intelligence arm, the M-Branch, the idea was to assassinate Laing in the South-East and blame it on its members.
Revealing that the British envoy to Nigeria had “deep hatred” for the actualisation of Biafra restoration, the group warned that the information became expedient to put the world in the know of the assassination plot, saying, “we respect the sanctity of life.”
The IPOB Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, stated this in a statement on Thursday, made available to journalists.
The statement reads in part, “The global movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra, under the leadership of our Liberator Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu, wish to advise the British High Commissioner, Catriona Laing to be more conscious of her environment.
“We as well call on British High Commissioner to shelve her regular visits to different parts of the Nigeria country-side especially the Biafraland otherwise referred to as South-East.
“The reason for this sincere security advice is to save her life. Despite her hatred for Biafra and Igbos in particular, we have optimal respect and value for the sanctity of life, especially visitors to our land.
“In view of the recently intercepted intel by our M-Branch, the IPOB Intelligence Unit Department, there’s an orchestrated conspiracy to perform a sacrifice big and powerful enough to strengthen the potency of the British hatred against the Igbos and Biafra. Such high profile plan is zeroed toward using a highly placed person capable of making headline news globally as a scapegoat.
“The leadership of IPOB do hereby advise that Ms Catriona Liang, must as a matter of life and death suspend all her planned activities involving travels within Biafran Territories.”
