IPOB USED MONKEYPOX FAKE NEWS AS A SET UP AGAINST THE IGBOS, GROUP ALLEGES

A group has accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of generating a fake news about monkeypox - The group said the IPOB used the fake news against the Igbo people - The group also called on the Nigerian army not to relent with the medical outreach being conducted on the Operation Python Dance II The Igbo for Nigeria Movement (INM) has accused the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of using the fake monkeypox news against the Igbos.

The group said the IPOB is responsible for reports in some quarters that medical outreach of the Operation Python Dance II conducted by the Nigerian army is aimed at planting monkeypox viruses in children in the southeast region. The group describing the act as wicked said the IPOB is bent on setting the Igbo people against the Nigerian army and other members of the Nigerian state. Speaking to journalists, the national president of INM, Ifeanyi Igwe, said facts have shown that the larger population of the south people are law abiding citizens.

Igwe said only those with criminal intent which the army has thwarted in its recent operation in the region are pained and out to use anything possible being it outright falsehood or blackmail to discredit the army. Igwe said: "We want to appeal to Ndigbo to decisively deal with the IPoB problem as it has been established that this criminal lies emanated from the terror group. Even as the damage is unfolding, Emma Powerful, the supposed spokesperson of IPoB continues to make inflammatory remarks, which were sadly reported by some mainstream media that ignored the fact that his group is a designated terror organization. “Unfortunately, IPOB is laying the ground works to kill and destroy more Igbo people than any security agency could have ever done even if they had mounted a coordinated genocidal campaign against the southeast geo-political zone.

This is a concern that is backed up by logic. “The IPOB lies has practically shut down schools. Emma Powerful asked teachers and pupils to stay at home until Operation Python Dance II leaves the southeast. "This is going to disrupt education calendar in Igbo areas and this will leave our students at disadvantage since the other parts of the country would not pause their calendar for the southeast. Since Operation Python Dance is now poised to be an annual event are we going to be shutting down our school every year while other regions make progress? READ ALSO: Breaking: President Buhari makes 2 vital appointments in top agencies “Should monkeypox evolve into an epidemic that requires mass vaccination the lies and rumours that have spread like wildfire will prevent people from accepting life saving inoculations and treatment. This could cause casualty on a catastrophic scale. Let us be reminded that some parts of the country only a few weeks ago had to get vaccinated for cholera."

He said: "The vaccines were shipped and conveyed by people in the south that included Igbo yet persons of northern ethnicity that received the vaccines did not wrongly accuse or fear the Igbo even at a time IPOB's hate speech was at its vilest. The lies have set up our people to die needlessly should there be a national health emergency. “While IPOB’s lies may serve its immediate propaganda goal, it will create a new generation of vaccine deniers in the long term. "We only need to take a cue from the impact of the anti-vaccines movements in the United States; they rely on the kind of rumours being spread in Nigeria now to push their agenda but the impact of the follies is being felt by way of resurfacing of diseases that the US had once eradicate while children are dying needlessly." Igwe also called on state and federal governments to take critical steps to stop the propagation of lie by the IPOB.

 He said the the INM hopes that the Nigerian army would remain on standby with its Operation Python Dance II medical outreach to take of those who are truly in need of the services. PAY  earlier reported that some petrol bombs were said to have recovered from the residence of the leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu. The commissioner of police in Abia state, Anthony Ogbizi, said the bombs were found during a raid in Kanu's residence. He said the raid was carried out by the security agency based on intelligence report regarding activities by some members of the group.