IPOB: FG, UK Fret Over Threat To Assassinate British High Commissioner 

By Uche Mbah

The British High Commission, says it will not respond to warning by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB on its High Commissioner Catriona Laing to stay away from the region.

IPOB had claimed that there was a plot to assassinate the British envoy while traveling to the south east, saying it will not take the blame if she’s killed.

The warning has however raised serious tension in the diplomatic circles, as the federal government, the magazine learnt is weighing on how to respond.

But Dean Hurlock, the Head of Communications at the Commission in Abuja, told Daily Trust, when asked to respond to IPOB threat that “We don’t have any for you right now. Sorry.”

The commission’s response may have further raised tension as many Nigerians are still wondering on whether the High Commissioner will still travel to the south east despite being warned by the separatist group.

Sources in the Commission informed the magazine that the British government is not taking the warning with a pinch of salt.

“The threat of the militant group is not what to be taken lightly considering the number of prominent persons that have been killed in the past few months. We are weighing our options, and a feed back from the Foreign Office will play a significant role in knowing how to proceed on the matter,” a source in the commission said.

IPOB had claimed it’s in possession of an “orchestrated conspiracy” to assassinate the high-ranking UK official.

In a statement signed by Emma Powerful, IPOB spokesperson, Thursday, IPOB said Laing should cancel the trip as the advice is to “save her life”. The statement reads in part:

“The reason for this sincere security advice is to save her life despite her hatred for Biafra and Igbos in particular. We have optimal respect and value for the sanctity of life, especially for visitors to our land,”

“In view of the recently intercepted Intel by our M-Branch, the IPOB Intelligence Unit Department, there’s an orchestrated conspiracy to perform a sacrifice big and powerful enough to strengthen the potency of the British hatred against the Igbos and Biafra. Such high profile plan is zeroed toward using a highly placed person capable of making headline news globally as a scapegoat.

“The leadership of IPOB do hereby advise that Ms Catriona Liang must as a matter of life and death suspend all her planned activities involving travels within Biafran Territories. Those that are threatened by the Biafra restoration project have perfected evil plans to assassinate Ms Catriona Liang, the British Envoy on Biafra soil as a quick and cogent reason for Britain to disengage their weapons supplies to Ukraine and concentrate same towards Nigeria to be used against Biafrans. Their aim is to quash the agitation for Self-Determination and to kill as many Indigenous Biafrans as possible and other residents in Biafra land.

“IPOB does not wish the British Envoy death or dead, however, if she ignores this advice and walks into the trap already set by the enemies of the Biafra struggle, that will be considered suicidal.”

IPOB, he said, will not tow the violence path to achieve its ultimate goal of achieving the Biafran dream.

“The UK Government must understand that IPOB’s grudges against them have not reached to the extent that warrants assassination of their citizens in Biafraland, in Nigeria or in any other part of the World for that matter,” he said.