The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has described Nigeria as a country built on hypocrisy and double standards, following a recent statement credited to Bashir El-Rufai, son of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in which he allegedly declared that he does not believe in “One Nigeria.”
In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, IPOB said El-Rufai’s son’s position vindicated its detained leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who has long questioned the unity of the country.
IPOB noted that while Kanu was abducted, tortured, and “illegally renditioned” to Nigeria for calling for regional autonomy, Bashir El-Rufai had openly dismissed the concept of “One Nigeria” without fear of arrest or prosecution.
“This open rejection of ‘One Nigeria’ by El-Rufai’s son exposes in the clearest terms the monumental hypocrisy and double standard that define Nigeria,” the statement read.
The group further argued that Nigeria’s judiciary had also been complicit in the “selective persecution” of its leader, citing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Kanu’s acquittal by the Court of Appeal as evidence of ethnic bias.
According to IPOB, Nigeria’s system operates with “one law for the Fulani and another law for the Igbo,” insisting that Kanu’s continued detention was unjust.
“If Nigeria were a fair country, the DSS and Attorney General would have by now proscribed El-Rufai’s son, branded him a terrorist, and thrown him into solitary confinement. But because he is Fulani, the state machinery looks the other way,” IPOB alleged.
The separatist group reiterated its long-standing position that “One Nigeria is a fraud”, adding that the persecution of Kanu while protecting others making similar statements “proves beyond doubt that Nigeria is a failed project built on injustice.”
Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his arrest and return to Nigeria in 2021, facing multiple charges bordering on terrorism.
