Blood on Nigeria’s Hands: IPOB’s Austin Slams Government’s Hypocrisy at Home and Abroad

New York, U.S.A. – September 27, 2025

While Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), declared the country’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the reality on the ground in Nigeria tells a far darker story.

Thousands are being slaughtered, security forces are powerless against terrorist attacks, and peaceful movements for self-determination are violently suppressed. For Mazi Chika Austin, a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and a political analyst, Shettima’s eloquent appeals for peace abroad amount to little more than political theatre.

“We do not believe that the sanctity of human life should be trapped in the corridors of endless debate. That is why we say, without stuttering and without doubt, that a two-state solution remains the most dignified path to lasting peace for the people of Palestine… The people of Palestine are not collateral damage in a civilization searching for order. They are human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted,” Shettima said.

Hypocrisy in Action: Violence at Home

Austin called out Nigeria for using the Palestinian struggle to advance its international image while failing to address violence within its own borders. In a Facebook video obtained by Peoples Chronicles, he accused the government of “playing the ostrich”, ignoring widespread killings and insecurity while posturing as a global peacemaker.

Recent data from the Nigeria-based NGO International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) shows that over 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria during the first 220 days of 2025. Armed Fulani militias, often overwhelming the military, continue to terrorize communities. One stark example is the attack on the 152 Task Force Battalion in Banki, Bama Local Government Area of Borno State, where soldiers were killed, armored tanks burned, ammunition looted, and nearby Freetown struck on the same night.

“The Nigerian government speaks of peace abroad while its people bleed at home,” Austin said.

Divide-and-Rule and Attacks on IPOB

Austin further revealed that the Nigerian government actively seeks to undermine IPOB through polarization and provocation. He cited the killing of IPOB’s Biafraland Coordinator, Mazi Ikechukwu Ugwuoha, as part of a broader strategy to instigate internal conflict.

“Polarization has always been a weapon of oppressive states, but IPOB understands this and will always resist such strategies,” he emphasized.

He also highlighted attempts to discredit IPOB internationally, claiming that Simon Ekpa was introduced as an agent of criminality to provide the Nigerian government with a pretext to delegitimize the peaceful self-determination movement.

Global Comparisons: Palestine and Catalonia

Austin drew parallels between Nigeria’s handling of IPOB and the Israeli government’s approach to Palestinians. While the PLO pursues non-violence in the West Bank, Hamas’ armed resistance is used by Israel to justify repression. Similarly, Spain’s treatment of Catalonia, forcing leader Carles Puigdemont into exile in Belgium, reflects how states suppress legitimate self-determination movements.

“These examples show that governments rarely allow peaceful movements to proceed unchallenged, and Nigeria is no different,” Austin said.

Diplomacy and International Pressure

Austin stressed that IPOB’s diplomatic efforts are both open and secret, noting that genuine negotiations between states often take years and are conducted away from public view. He insisted that IPOB cannot be expected to reveal its secret diplomatic moves to “please the ignorant.”

He revealed that the Nigerian government has been orchestrating a covert campaign of blackmail and deception against IPOB on the international stage. According to him, Abuja has been secretly lobbying foreign governments to undermine the movement, going as far as instigating European authorities to harass IPOB coordinators with letters to explain why asylum should continue to be granted to IPOB members  and demanding explanations over alleged ties with Auto-Pilot. He denounced this as nothing short of state-sponsored persecution, a calculated attempt to criminalize a legitimate self-determination struggle and strip Biafrans of international protection through lies and manipulation.

He further charged that certain foreign powers are complicit in Nigeria’s repression, providing the regime with technological tools, diplomatic shielding, and media propaganda to weaken IPOB’s voice on the global stage. This, he insisted, exposes a shameful alliance of interests bent on silencing a legitimate struggle for freedom and shielding Nigeria’s atrocities from international accountability.

Call for Biafran Unity

Austin urged Biafrans worldwide to stand with IPOB, regardless of formal membership. He reiterated that IPOB rejects all forms of criminality and is committed to achieving self-determination through lawful and diplomatic means.

“Reality does not bend to sentiment. Biafrans must understand the antics of the Nigerian state if we are to succeed in our self-determination drive,” Austin warned.

Conclusion: Words vs. Reality

Shettima’s UNGA speech on Palestine stands in stark contrast to the suffering and insecurity within Nigeria. While Abuja claims moral authority abroad, millions of Nigerians face death, displacement, and systemic violence. For Mazi Chika Austin, the hypocrisy is clear: a government that cannot protect its own citizens or respect their rights at home has no legitimacy to lecture the world on peace and justice.

Until Nigeria confronts its own failures, ending the massacres, protecting its citizens, and recognizing the right to self-determination, its lofty calls for peace abroad will remain nothing more than empty theatre.

As Austin’s critique makes clear, the true test of any government’s respect for human life is not measured in carefully crafted speeches at the UN, but in the justice it delivers and the dignity it upholds within its own borders. The international community must stop enabling this hypocrisy; silence and complicity only embolden Nigeria’s atrocities while betraying the very principles of human rights and democracy they claim to defend.