The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has claimed that the Onitsha tanker fire disaster on Wednesday was a terrorist attack.
This was contained in a statement by IPOB’s Media and Public Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Thursday.
The pro-Biafra group wondered why tankers driven by northerners always explode in the south or the brakes of their trailers always fail in Biafraland.
The group called on the people of the region to wake up to what it described as the “new reality of population reduction.”
While sympathising with those who lost their loved ones and property in the inferno, the group said nobody should be deceived that such incidents were mere accidents.
The statement read in part, “With a profound sense of deep sorrow and sadness, we commiserate with all the families and communities that lost their 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 laden with inflammable liquid has been involved in mass fatalities in Onitsha or other parts of Anambra State.
“The consistency with which such mishaps happened in the southern part of the country had clearly shown that they were being executed by certain persons.
“The story is always the same, it’s either their trailer had brake failure or their tanker exploded, all resulting in a 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.
“This massive loss of lives and businesses in Onitsha is most unwelcome.
“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.”
