The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says it will stand against purported plans to name the second Niger bridge after President Muhammadu Buhari when completed.
The bridge is expected to reduce the workload on the first Niger Delta.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful, the group alleged that Buhari watched helplessly as terrorists masquerading as Fulani herdsmen invaded Biafran communities, killing innocent men and women, after destroying their farms.
“The attention of the global movement and family of IPOB under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the plan by the Federal Government to name the second Niger Bridge after President Buhari,” the statement said.
“We restate our position and reject naming the second Niger Bridge after a Fulani man who came to power and completely sidelined our people. Under his watch, security agents have been slaughtering our youths with reckless abandon.
“IPOB is vehemently opposed to naming second Niger Bridge after Buhari. The bridge should rather be named Achuzie Bridge or after other accomplished Igbo patriots. No big project has been named after any Igboman in the North.”
“The South East has more credible names and more important persons, like the late Chinua Achebe, Chu Okongwu, Cyprian Ekwensi, Alex Ekwueme, Michael Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, Mbonu Ojike and Kenneth Dike, among others, who the Federal Government can name the second Niger Bridge after,” the statement added.
The group also refuted an allegation by the minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, that IPOB was disrupting ongoing works at the bridge.
It challenged Fashola to substantiate his claims with evidence.
