Britain and France denied any link with the outlawed Indigenous People of
\nBiafra (IPOB) yesterday.<\/p>\n
They were reacting to the federal government\u2019s claim that Biafra Radio was
\nbroadcasting from Britain, which rejected requests to stop it.<\/p>\n
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed said also that the bulk of the
\ndiaspora money being sent to the group and its leader Nnamdi Kanu was
\npassing through France.<\/p>\n
The British High Commission, in a statement by its Press and Public
\nAffairs Officer, Mr. Joe Abuku, said: \u201cThe UK is not aware of any
\nrepresentation from the Nigerian government about Radio Biafra.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWere we to receive any such request, we would, of course, consider it
\ncarefully on the basis of the available evidence, recognizing that freedom
\nof speech and expression carries responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
A diplomatic source who corroborated the high commission’s statement said:
\n\u201cThere is no way the UK government will harbor any terrorist organization.
\nThe UK is not immune from terrorism and it is in our interest to join
\nhands with the Nigerian government to fight the scourge.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can only crack down on any group if proven intelligence is made
\navailable. And even in doing that, we will act only within the ambit of
\nthe law and fundamental human rights.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you will recall, the British Prime Minister in June called for a
\nglobal action against the use of internet space by terrorists.”<\/p>\n
\u201dShe demanded international agreements to \u2018regulate cyberspace\u2019 against
\nterrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n
The source quoted the British Prime Minister as saying:\u00a0 \u201cWe need to do
\neverything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online. We need
\nto deprive the extremists of safe spaces online.\u201d<\/p>\n
The French Embassy said its government was not harboring IPOB terrorists.<\/p>\n
It said the French government was surprised by the allegation from the
\nfederal government.<\/p>\n
A statement by the Embassy\u2019s Political Counsellor, Claude Abily, said
\nthere was no knowledge of IPOB presence in France.<\/p>\n
The statement said: \u201cThe Embassy of France was surprised by the statement
\nmade yesterday by the Minister of Information and Culture indicating that
\nthe \u2018financial headquarters\u2019 of IPOB were in France.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have any knowledge of a particular presence of IPOB in France
\nand the Nigerian authorities never got in touch with the Embassy on this
\npoint.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stand ready to examine any information which could support this
\nstatement.”<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, we would like to reiterate that France actively cooperates
\nwith Nigeria in the field of security and that we strongly support the
\nunity of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Britain and France denied any link with the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) yesterday. They were reacting to the federal government\u2019s claim that Biafra Radio was broadcasting from Britain,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n