The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has informed the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, of a plot to assassinate her during a planned visit to the southeastern region of Nigeria.
According to IPOB’s Director of Media and Publicity, Emma Powerful, one aim of the plot uncovered by the group’s intelligence arm, the M-Branch, is to strengthen the “potency of the British hatred against the Igbos and Biafra” by assassinating Catriona Laing on Igbo soil.
What IPOB said
In the statement released on Thursday by IPOB, the group advised the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, to put off her visit to the region as Igbo group disregarded reports labelling it a violent group.
The statement reads partly “in spite of the Nigerian government’s unprovoked attacks, arrest, torture, illegal detentions, rape, killings and forceful disappearance of our family members especially our youth, IPOB has not changed our peaceful non-violent agitation into armed struggle.”
What you should know
Months ago, there were rumors that the British government had listed IPOB as a terrorist group. The British High Commission responded in Abuja by denying these reports, calling them “untrue”.