Nigeria 'knows' which countries fund Igbo secessionists

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria's Information Minister Lai Mohamed on Tuesday said that the government was aware of certain countries that were funding the activities of Igbo secessionists in the country's southeast region, and were taking steps to block the funding.

"We know the sources of their funding though I am not at liberty to disclose them here. Terrorists do not publish where their funding come from. But we know the countries that are supporting IPOB [Indigenous People of Biafra],” Mohamed said on a program aired live on state TV.

"We are taking steps to block them and we are also taking a lot of diplomatic actions in respect of the countries that are supporting them," he added.

He also faulted claims that the army's "terrorist" designation for the secessionist group last Friday was unlawful --a veiled reference to the country's senate chief Bukola Saraki who said Monday that the military had not followed the "due process".

"There are a lot of arguments regarding the constitutionality of the action of the military and the southeast governors," Mohamed said. "People must realize that we are dealing with issue of national security and I do not think that the military and the governors should fold their arms while the country is set ablaze."

The minister added that he had heard a lot of comments as to whether the military had the right to declare IPOB a terrorist group.

"What the military has done is to catalogue all the activities of IPOB, which are not different from that of terrorists groups," he said.

Led by secessionist activist Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB wants an independent homeland for Igbo, which is the third largest ethnic group in Nigeria after Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba.

Last week, the army clashed with the secessionists in a bid to curtail their activities while governors from the region proscribed the group just hours after military authorities declared it a "violent terrorist organisation".