The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had in 2017 faulted the Nigerian government’s proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He also faulted the government designation of IPOB as a terrorists’ organisation.
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Mr Obi stated this on 1 October 2017 when he appeared as a guest on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
A video clip of the interview, published on YouTube, has been trending on social media.
IPOB is a separatist group that is leading an agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.
The group has been accused of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the South-east.
The Nigerian government proscribed the group in 2017 and tagged it a terrorist organisation.
But Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, said then that IPOB was not a terrorist organisation and that the government was wrong to have proscribed the group.
“The only thing I disagree with is naming IPOB terrorists. They are not terrorists. Those who took the decision may have information that I don’t have,” he said.
“I live in Onitsha, and I can tell you they are not terrorists. They (IPOB members) are people I pass on the road every time, (and) every day.”
Mr Obi insisted that IPOB members did not constitute a threat to Nigeria.
“I meet them and live with them. In fact, I usually see (IPOB) people gathering, and not one day has there been a threat or molestation or anything from them, even when they gather,” the LP candidate said of the IPOB members.
Mr Obi was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party at the time of the interview.
Doyin Okupe, the spokesperson of the LP candidate, did not respond to calls seeking comments from him on the viral clip.
He did not also respond to a text message seeking to know if Mr Obi still maintains his stand against the proscription of IPOB and its designation as a terrorist organisation.