16/09/2025
IPOB Denies Link to South-East Insecurity, Distances Itself from ‘Gentle de Yahoo’
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has strongly denied repeated claims by Nigerian security agencies linking it to the rising wave of v!olence and crimin@lity in the South-East, including the recent arrest of a suspected criminal kingpin known as Gentle de Yahoo.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, IPOB spokesperson, Comrade Emma Powerful, accused the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian Army, and the Police of using the media to push what he described as “propaganda and satanic lies” against the movement.
According to Powerful, security agencies have made it a routine to blame IPOB and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), whenever they fail in their duties.
“It has become the cheapest trick in Nigeria: whenever the DSS, Army, or Police bungle in their responsibilities, they quickly fabricate headlines such as ‘IPOB/ESN commander arrested.’ Today it is kidnapping, tomorrow it will be armed robbery, and next week they may even blame IPOB for floods or road accidents,” he said.
The group stressed that it is a peaceful self-determination movement and not a criminal organisation. IPOB insisted that it has never engaged in kidnapping, terrorism, or banditry, but is only advocating for the freedom and dignity of the Igbo people.
Reacting to the Army’s claim that the arrested suspect Gentle de Yahoo was an IPOB/ESN commander, the group said the individual himself had publicly denied being a member.
The statement further alleged that Nigerian authorities are deliberately trying to demonise both IPOB and the Igbo people at large. It pointed to incidents such as the attacks on Igbo voters during elections in Lagos as examples of anti-Igbo sentiment.
“We are not kidn@ppers, we are not crimin@ls, we are not terrorists. Our only ‘crime’ is saying no to slavery and injustice,” IPOB said.
The pro-Biafra movement also warned that linking its name to every security challenge in the region is not only misleading but destructive to truth.
IPOB, founded by Nnamdi Kanu, was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the Nigerian government in 2017 under former President Muhammadu Buhari — a designation the group continues to contest, alongside international human rights organisations.
The Eastern Security Network (ESN), launched in 2020 to defend communities from violent herdsmen attacks, has been accused by authorities of involvement in armed clashes and attacks on security operatives. IPOB, however, has consistently denied those allegations, maintaining its commitment to a non-violent struggle for Biafra.
