IPOB Seeks Inquiry After U.S. Flags Nigeria For Religious Freedom Violations

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has welcomed the decision of the United States government to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), describing it as an acknowledgment of what it called years of “religious persecution and state-sponsored violence” in the country.

A statement issued over the weekend by its spokesperson, Comrade Emma Powerful, said the U.S. action represents “a moral victory for justice, truth, and the sanctity of human life”.

“The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the able leadership of our supreme leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, warmly welcomes the recent designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern by the government of the United States,” the group said.

The U.S. government had recently included Nigeria among countries where severe violations of religious freedom persist — a decision that has generated mixed reactions among Nigerian political and religious stakeholders.

The Nigerian government has said it’s working hard to protect people of all faiths and called on the US to provide support to end years of terrorist attacks in the country.

IPOB, however, said the development followed years of international advocacy and lobbying by Biafran groups and allies abroad, particularly in the United States and Canada.

The group also referenced a recent Canadian court decision designating Nigeria’s major political parties — the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — as “terror-enabling organisations.”

“The noble IPOB family extends profound gratitude to President Donald J. Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and to all patriotic Biafrans and friends of Biafra in the United States who have relentlessly championed this noble cause,” Powerful stated.

“Their courageous advocacy has brought global attention to the evil of religious persecution, state-sponsored violence, and sectarian killings that have long plagued Nigeria—particularly targeting the Christian and Igbo populations.”

The group said the recognition was not merely symbolic but a step toward global justice for victims of ethnic and religious violence. It further called for an independent international investigation into what it described as persistent “ethno-religious killings and insecurity” in the South-East region.

“There remains an urgent need for an independent international inquiry into the root causes of persistent ethno-religious killings and insecurity in Igboland,” IPOB added.

“Such an inquiry is essential to unmask the perpetrators, financiers, and political enablers behind these heinous acts, and to ensure that justice is done in accordance with international human rights law.”

While commending the efforts of advocacy groups abroad, IPOB also praised organisations such as the American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) and Ambassadors for Self-Determination and Rising Sun, which it said had continued to speak “against tyranny, impunity, and the ongoing genocide against our people and Christian communities in Northern Nigeria.”

The group said, “History will remember your courage,” Powerful said. “Relief shall at last come to the long-suffering peoples of the Middle Belt region as a result of this designation.”

The group expressed optimism that the U.S. decision would pave the way for renewed international attention to the plight of marginalized communities in Nigeria, and reaffirmed its commitment to achieving self-determination “through peaceful and lawful means.”

“Together, we have taken another step towards truth, justice, and the restoration of the dignity of all peoples trapped in this Lugardian contraption called Nigeria,” the statement concluded.