Members of the pro-Biafra group, Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, have resolved to carry arms beginning from Wednesday February 17, 2016, ‘in self-defence’.

According to a statement by IPOB spokesperson, Emma Nmezu yesterday in Umuahia, Abia State, the group noted that failure to carry arms had exposed its members to attacks and killings by security agents.
“Now, we have come to the painful but irreversible conclusion and determination to take our fate and destiny in our own hands. Starting from Wednesday, February 17, 2016, “Biafrans” will now be in the mode of self defence as enshrined by the relevant acts and declarations of the United Nations.

“Let no country or world leader attempt to tag us as terrorists because we are not terrorists, rather we are fighting for our survival and from being exterminated from the surface of the earth,” the release said.

“We shall defend ourselves with everything and anything necessary to avoid the continual killing of our mothers, fathers, and children. This is the time for all Biafrans to rise and defend themselves. We cannot fold our arms and watch them kill us the second time after killing over two million of us in 1968”.

IPOB disclosed that in September last year, IPOB catalogued attacks on its members in a statement where it alerted the world on plans to provoke Biafrans into retaliation only for it to be tagged as a terrorist organization and Biafrans as terrorists.