IPOB exposes plan to attack banks in South-East amid naira crisis

Pro-Biafran group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) disclosed that its intelligence unit, the M-Branch, has uncovered plans by some criminal elements to stage coordinated attacks on banks in Abia state and some other parts of the South-East.

The miscreants, claiming to be disciples of the IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, were planning attacks on banks and then blame it on operatives of the group's security arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the proscribed group added.

Emma Powerful, the IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, made this known in a statement on Saturday, February 18, 2023.

Powerful, therefore, urged the public to be on high alert while also distancing IPOB from such plan, stressing that the group doesn't encourage or indulge in criminality.

The pro-Biafran group advised the people of the South-East to refrain from joining or supporting any attack on any bank in the region.

The statement read: “We are putting the public on notice that IPOB was not part of this plan, and we don’t encourage or indulge in criminalities. In the event of attack on any bank in the South-East, people should hold Autopiloters, who have branded themselves as Kanu’s disciples, responsible because they have committed other crimes.

“That notwithstanding, we are going to checkmate them because they have decided to blackmail IPOB and ESN operatives with their criminal plans. We cannot afford to be part of activities that will increase the pain and suffering of our people who we are fighting for their freedom.”

This comes amid pockets of protests and attacks on commercial banks by angry citizens in some parts of the country in the past weeks over the hardship caused by the naira scarcity.