The pro-Biafran group also said it is not interested in Nigerian elections, describing it as a “fraudulent process of selecting leaders”.
This was contained in a statement by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Thursday.
Powerful emphasised that IPOB has not called for any sit-at-home during the duration of the election and therefore, distance itself from any purported order in the South-East during the election.
The statement read in part, “IPOB, under the command and leadership of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is illegally detained in DSS solitary confinement, once more unequivocally and publicly declare our lack of interest in the Nigeria fraudulent selection process called elections coming up in this month February, 2023.
“We have stated for the umpteenth time that we have nothing to do with the Nigeria elections and have neither called for a boycott nor do we have the intention to call for an election boycott during these coming elections.
“Those calling for ‘no election’ and sit-at-home during the election period are simply paid agents whose sole motive is to discredit our self-determination movement by attempting to paint it as an anti-democratic force.
“Their intention is to create the groundwork for the international community to view IPOB as being against democratic process and provide them with an excuse to clamp down on our activities and on IPOB leadership.
“Nigeria security agencies have kept silent on these double agents because they are working for the Federal Government. Had IPOB called for this sit-at-home or no election, the entire Nigeria security agencies would have been ranting and threatening the entire Biafra land.
“We have continued to make this fact public and for reasons best known to the Nigerian media and some public commentators, they have deliberately continually attributed the actions of these government-paid infiltrators to the noble movement of IPOB.
“This is one of the reasons we have distanced ourselves from the selection process called Nigeria elections. Our position remains that Nigeria is an irredeemable fraudulent country, and not even your vote can change the fantastically corrupt British enterprise called Nigeria.
“Our focus remains the unconditional release of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as the Court of Appeal has ordered a referendum date for Biafrans to determine their political future.
“IPOB DOS and the leadership will make a landmark on radio Biafra by Mazi Chinasa Nworu on Friday night on the issue of elections and to tell Biafrans that we are not stopping anybody from performing his or her civic responsibility by voting person of your choice, IPOB did not order sit-at-home IPOB is not against anybody coming out for elections everybody should go out on these days criminals mentioned as sit-at-home. There is no sit-at-home order in Biafraland.”
