Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have protested against the move to name the second River Niger Bridge after the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
The group, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said it rejects naming the bridge after Buhari, “because he came to power and completely sidelined its people.”
The group claimed that under Buhari’s watch, South-East youths have been slaughtered by security agents with reckless abandon.
IPOB said the bridge should rather be called ‘Achuzie Bridge” or any other accomplished Igbo patriots, adding that no Igboman has been named after any big project in the North.
The group said, “Under his watch, terrorists masquerading as Fulani herdsmen have invaded our communities killing innocent men and women after destroying our farms with their cows.”
The group also debunked the allegation by the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, that IPOB disturbed the construction of the second Niger Bridge.
It said, “This is another lie from the pit of hell. We want to challenge Fashola to substantiate his claims. Did IPOB in any way physically interfere with the construction of the bridge by either directly or indirectly hindering any worker either foreign or local handling the project?
“Fashola should know that if not for IPOB that has ensured security in the South East, the workers of Julius Berger would have run away from the site a long time ago. If the second Niger Bridge is being done in the North, Boko Haram, Ansaru, ISWAP, and the pampered bandits would have chased them away. That shows them that South East is more peaceful than the North.”