IPOB threatens total boycott of January general elections over Kanu appeal

Warns against violence in its name

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The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has declared that it will boycott the general elections in January, and says the boycott will be total across the South-East “and beyond” unless the federal government moves to list and hear Nnamdi Kanu’s pending appeal.

In a statement issued by Mazi Chris Nwaogu, Head of the Fourth Administrator Directorate of State (DOS), the group described the boycott as “not a threat, but a promise.”

“Anybody who wants it called off should stop talking to IPOB and talk to the APC government,” the statement said, urging the authorities to list and hear the appeal because “time is going.”

IPOB said it would not disclose how it intends to ensure compliance until nearer the time, so that “desperate politicians” cannot hijack the move and turn it into mayhem.

The group sought to distance itself from violence, insisting it is “against every form of violence” and that a boycott “is not a licence to disrupt rallies” or unleash thugs. It accused the APC-led government of using the same playbook to demonise IPOB over the Monday sit-at-home, saying the government “created chaos, blamed us, and sold the lie to the world.”

The statement condemned what it called a growing use of thugs to disrupt opposition rallies and ward meetings in Enugu State under Governor Peter Mbah. It said opposition gatherings in Nkanu West were invaded, people were shot, and canopies and chairs were destroyed. IPOB said the police confirmed the attacks while the APC denied any involvement, adding that “the pattern is what matters.” It warned that the use of criminal elements to intimidate opponents “will be put to an end in the coming days,” describing this as “a warning.”

The group said the government and what it called a “complicit judiciary” have abandoned Kanu’s appeal and a related suit before the Supreme Court, and have neither listed the appeal nor joined issues. It argued that Section 36(2) of the Constitution, which requires a written law defining an offence and prescribing its punishment, means there can be no conviction.

The group also faulted Justice James Omotosho, saying he wrongly held that the repeal of the 2013 Act had been settled in an earlier no-case ruling. It further argued that Sections 97 and 98(2) of the Terrorism Prohibition Act 2022 required the case to continue under the corresponding provisions of the new law, and that the judge refused to migrate it. These are IPOB’s assertions, not findings of any court.

It reiterated that the ex parte order proscribing it is illegal and said its appeal at the Supreme Court is pending. It said its lawyers have begun appeals for all those detained, the injured are receiving treatment, and prison outreach continues in Port Harcourt, Owerri, Enugu and Abakaliki. To families still searching for relatives, it said: “you have not been forgotten.”

The group also cited the deaths of 37 young men in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State, after their arrest on suspicion of illegal mining. It claimed survivors described a packed cell with no air and a substance sprayed before the door was shut. IPOB used the incident to argue it cannot trust the authorities with Kanu or its “missing sons in the East. The NSCDC’s position on the incident was not part of the statement.

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