Ipob plans audacious and daring launch of Radio Biafra in Buhari's home town Daura

SECESSIONIST group the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) has announced plans to launch a radio station in Daura in a blatant act of defiance to show President Muhammadu Buhari that he cannot curtail their activities.

Seeking to recreate the defunct republic of Biafra that briefly existed between July 1967 and January 1970 during the Nigerian civil war, Ipob and the government has been at loggerheads over recent years. Nnamdi Kanu, Ipob's leader, is currently a fugitive in exile after jumping bail while facing charges of treason and the association's members have frequently clashed with security forces.

Yesterday, Ipob dared the federal government to stop it from launching Radio Biafra in Daura, the home town of the president, located in Katsina State. Ipob's challenge came barely 24 hours after the federal government approved N654m for the deployment of a hybrid spectrum monitoring system that would target illegal frequencies in the southern part of the country especially, the southeast geo-political zone.

Dr Isa Pantami, Nigeria's minister of communications briefed the members of the Federal Executive Council about how his ministry uncovered 320 frequencies being used all over the country, adding that 106 of them were illegal. He said the monitoring did not cover the southeast but the five other geo-political zones of Nigeria.

“It is because of this that we presented our memo, seeking for the council’s approval of N653,886,584 to procure and deploy  hybrid spectrum monitoring system that will cover the southern part of the country, most importantly the south east. Money approved for this project will go a long way in promoting safety and security and secondly, identify the usage of illegal spectrum and thirdly, enhance revenue for the federal government and fourthly, in the long run, it will create many jobs for the citizens.”

Ipob publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, said: “For daring us, we will launch Radio Biafra in Daura. The  attention of the global movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra ably led by our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to  the approval of N654m by the federal government of Nigeria to monitor and crash Radio Biafra  frequencies in the country particularly in southeast and south-south geopolitical zones.

“This wicked but futile decision was taken during their Federal Executive Council meeting held on Wednesday, 7th of October 2020. That the Federal Government of Nigeria headed by President Muhammadu Buhari mapped out such a whopping amount of money for this unreasonable project despite its precarious economic state only confirms it is jittery over the name Ipob.

"We thought they said we are miscreants?  How come they are now losing sleep over miscreants?

“The Nigerian Government and its agents have spent more than this amount in the past and nothing came out of it. We are expecting them to approve more money for the fight because they must understand that they will try but cannot withstand Ipob and its leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as such attempts in the past amounted to efforts in futility and this time, they will fail again.