The Indigenous Peoples of Biafra has said its members were not responsible for an explosion which rocked a church reportedly owned by the father of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, in Port Harcourt on Saturday.

No fewer than five hoodlums invaded the church, Christian Universal Church International, on Azikiwe Street Mile, 3 Diobu, Port Harcourt and detonated the explosives suspected to be dynamite, on Saturday night.

The group, in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said IPOB had no involvement in the attack.

IPOB said Governor Wike and the police should stop dragging its name into the explosion, adding that it had no such plans.

The group said, “The attention of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, ably led by our great leader, Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the fabricated and state-sponsored propaganda peddled by Nyesom Wike and his co-travellers that peaceful and innocent members of IPOB are responsible for an alleged attack on his father’s building on Saturday night.

“We want to state categorically and for record purposes that IPOB knows nothing about the said purported attack. We do not indulge in explosive devices, and we do not have any intentions to do so soon.

“We have said it on numerous occasions that violence is not part of the plan in our quest to restore Biafra. Any day we decide to take up arms against the state, which is not in our immediate contemplation, it won’t be done in secret.

“The whole world is now aware of the heinous crimes against humanity committed by Gov Wike against innocent Biafrans living in Obigbo Rivers State. Wike and his people used the nationwide disturbances that trailed the EndSARS protests as a cover to murder hundreds of innocent men, women and children in Obigbo Rivers State. He never denied it; in fact, he boasted about it during his numerous televised interviews.

“We seek to advise the Nigerian police and Wike to stop peddling outlandish lies in the mould of Lai Mohammed. Wike used a mere concocted allegation and without recourse to judicial process, to unleash another round of genocide on Biafran soil in Obigbo.

“Wike seems to be using the same tactics the Nigerian government deployed to infuse violence into peaceful #EndSARS in Lagos and Abuja. The public is now wiser.”