Last week, several print and online media sites in Nigeria and other African countries reported that the United Kingdom had recognized the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB] operating in this country’s South East region as a terrorist organization and a group that uses violence to achieve its aims. People all over the country heaved a sigh of relief at this news, which was attributed to the United Kingdom Visas and Immigration [UKVI] office’s May 2022 policy update.
UKVI referred to IPOB, led by Nnamdi Kanu who is standing trial in Abuja on terrorism charges, as a terrorist organization. It said the group is excluded from its asylum programme for violent crimes in Nigeria’s South East. It said in its policy notes, “IPOB is proscribed as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government, and members of the group and its paramilitary wing – Eastern Security Network, created in December 2020 – have committed human rights violations in Nigeria.”
It added, “If a person has been involved with IPOB (and/or an affiliated group), MASSOB or any other ‘Biafran’ group that incites or uses violence to achieve its aims, decision-makers must consider whether one (or more) of the exclusion clauses under the Refugee Convention is applicable. Persons who commit human rights violations must not be granted asylum.”
To say that IPOB and its military wing, ESN have committed human rights violations in Nigeria will be a gross understatement. They have killed policemen and soldiers, burnt public and private property, attacked the country homes of political and community leaders including many traditional rulers, prevented millions of people from coming out of their homes on certain days in search of their livelihoods. IPOB recently carried out, and filmed, a most gruesome rape and murder of a military couple. It killed a man who was doing an update of the voters’ register. If it had done half of these in UK or any European country, the full weight of the British state would have long been after it, not just visa bans and refusal of refugee status. Or is committing murder and acts of terrorism in Africa different from doing the same in Europe?
Imagine our consternation and chagrin, therefore, when the British High Commission in Abuja denied that its government had designated IPOB as a terrorist group. It said in a statement, “We are aware of inaccurate reporting circulating in the media and online that the UK Government has added the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the UK’s list of terrorist groups or organisations banned under UK law. These reports are untrue. The “Indigenous People of Biafra” (IPOB) is not a proscribed organisation in the UK.”
Why this remarkable flip flop? According to the British High Commission, “The inaccurate reporting relates to the April 13, 2022 publication by the UK Government of a revised Country Policy and Information note (CPIN) on separatist groups in South-East Nigeria, including IPOB. All asylum and human rights claims made in the UK are considered on their individual facts in accordance with our obligations under the UN Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights, taking into account relevant background country information and case law.”
It added, “The CPIN on separatist groups in the South East, including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), provides a general assessment of risks faced by individuals belonging to those groups. These assessments are based on an analysis of publicly available country information obtained from a wide range of reliable sources including media outlets, UK and other governments; local, national and international organisations; and non-government organisations.”
This explanation is not convincing. Instead, it buttresses long held suspicions that the UK government encourages violent separatist agitation and terrorism in this country by providing shelter and refuge to persons who use broadcast facilities there to instigate crises in Nigeria. This is totally unexpected and unbecoming of a friendly country that claims to share with us a common cause in fighting terrorism.
The good thing about this is that terrorism chickens often come home to roost. If the UK and other Euro-American powers continue with this diabolical policy of providing shelter and refuge to terrorists from Africa, leopards never shed their spots. One day they will use UK visas and passports to perpetrate terrorist acts in their welcoming countries and by then, the Brits will have no one to blame but themselves.