The Indigenous People of Biafra has advised the ‘Biafra women’ to ignore the order by its United States-based legal adviser, Mr Bruce Fein, calling for protest in Abuja.
The advise followed the opinion of Mr Fein asking the IPOB women to embark on a street protest in Abuja.
In a statement through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Friday, the group disassociated itself from the order, which it called “unnecessary risk.”
Powerful stated that Fein overstepped his bounds as the IPOB legal adviser in issuing such directive which would only expose the women to avoidable dangers and harm.
He said, “Following the opinion of a USA-based IPOB legal adviser, Bruce Fein, asking the IPOB women to embark on a street protest in Abuja, we wish to completely disassociate from such opinion and instruct Biafran women to please ignore such opinion and avoid the unnecessary risk.
“In the US, protests are part and a common feature of democracy and protesters enjoy protection from security agencies. But maybe unknown to him, in Nigeria, protesters are termed terrorists and shot on sight. To protest in Nigeria, particularly under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, is a suicide mission.
“The IPOB will not advise Biafra women to hit the streets for any protest now because their safety is not guaranteed. We have lost a lot of innocent souls in the past protests and the international community watched without any intervention.”
The group also stated that it had a well-equipped, perfectly organised, functional and rapid response leadership office through which such directive would be delivered other than through Sahara Reporters as claimed in their publication.
It said it had done a lot of protests in the past and where innocent supporters were killed in cold blood by security agencies, insisting that it did not want a repeat of that.
The statement read in part, “Therefore, we won’t allow more people to be sent to their untimely grave by wicked security operatives in Nigeria who run away from terrorists and Fulani bandits in the North but shamelessly show their might when it has to do with unarmed agitators of self-determination in the South.
“Bruce Fein is our legal adviser and not the IPOB spokesperson. He does not quite understand that the version of democracy operational in Nigeria is different from the real democracy being practised in the US where he resides.
“We understand the concern of Mr Bruce Fein, but we advise him to restrict himself strictly to providing legal services to our movement, and refrain from dishing out unapproved directives to Biafrans.
“We, therefore, urge all Biafrans to please ignore such directive from Bruce Fein, and any other of such directives not emanating from the IPOB spokesman and communicated through our proper channels of information dissemination.
“Directives for he IPOB women and Biafrans to embark on outdoor activities which include protest go through certain processes before such an exercise is implemented because we understand this part of the world better.
“The IPOB is not a movement where anybody will wake up and start issuing directives. We are embedded on a very firm ideological based foundation and rooted in an unshakeable structure. Everyone knows that Bruce Fein is IPOB’s international legal adviser and not a decision making officer.
“It would be of our collective best interest if Bruce Fein will concentrate on his job and desist from meddling into Biafraland related matters and areas outside the purview of his brief.
“He is aware that we have some of the best lawyers here in Biafraland but they never issue orders or directives to the IPOB but proffer only legal advice when necessary. Bruce Fein is advised to stay off the IPOB administrative matters and concentrate on his legal representation.”
