The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described Wednesday Onitsha tanker explosion that claimed lives as terrorist attack.
It said nobody should be deceived that such incidents were mere accidents, insisting that it was designed to exterminate Biafrans from the face of the earth.
In a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB said the repeated mishaps in the southern part of the country were a clear demonstration that they were being clinically executed by certain people.
Commiserating with the families of the deceased, the group wondered why such incidents were not happening in certain parts of the country where even the owners of such articulated vehicles hail from.
The statement partly read, “With a profound sense of deep sorrow and sadness we commiserate with all the families and communities that lost loved ones over the terror attack in Onitsha on the 16 October 2019.
“This is not the first time an articulated lorry or a tanker driven by terrorist laden inflammable liquid has been involved in mass fatalities in Onitsha or other parts of Anambra State.
“The story is always the same, it’s either their trailer had brake failure or their tanker exploded, all resulting in massive loss of lives and destruction of individually owned businesses.
“We the Indigenous People of Biafra call these callous and wicked acts for what it is- a cowardly terrorist attack designed by those evil men determined to exterminate we Biafrans from the face of the earth and carried out by those that think they are serving a Jihadi cause that will bring about the Islamisation of Biafraland through terrorism.
“At a time when herdsmen sponsored are actively engaged in the forceful acquisition of our lands in Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra and Abia, aided by the Nigerian Army under the guise of Operation Python Dance 4, this massive loss of lives and businesses in Onitsha is most unwelcome.
“The question we keep asking is, why are there no exploding tankers in crowded streets of Kano, Kaduna or Sokoto?
“Why must tankers driven by northerners always explode in the south or the brakes of their trailers always fail in Biafraland?
“It is time now for our people to wake up to this new reality of population reduction by those intent on the destruction of the Biafran race”.