The Federal Government has started the process of revealing the account details of sponsors of Indigenous People of Biafra to the French government, Punch reports.

What happened:

• The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had alleged that France was the headquarters of IPOB’s funding. 
• But the European country has denied the allegation, stating that it has no knowledge of IPOB activities in France.
• Mohammed also alleged that the United Kingdom rejected its request to shut Radio Biafra, an allegation that has been denied as well.

The report:

According to Punch, a senior government official said the Federal Government has told the French Government that it never accused it of funding IPOB.

The government has reportedly asked the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit and the Central Bank of Nigeria to compile the needed information on the sponsors and it hand it over to the French government.

The source said, “The French Government has reached out to us over the IPOB matter. It said we should give it account details and any other evidence showing that France was where the majority of the money was coming from.

“So, the government has accepted that challenge and we will be instructing the NFIU, SCUML and the CBN to hand over all the details of IPOB’s funding to us in one comprehensive report which will be submitted to the French Government.

“Since IPOB has been declared a terrorist organisation by a court in Nigeria, the French Government, which claims to be against Nigeria’s break-up, is expected to give us maximum cooperation.”

The source added that other countries from which IPOB also received huge cash inflows include Turkey, Senegal, Malaysia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the United States.

He added, “Before his arrest, Nnamdi Kanu had appealed to people of Igbo extraction in some of these countries to provide him with funds which would be used in buying weapons and bringing down the Nigerian Government.

“In a video, which has even gone viral on Youtube, Kanu said he needed guns. This is not hearsay.

“We will also be writing these countries informing them of the need to ensure that IPOB’s source of funding is traced and blocked.”

Azeez