The "Vote and Die" threat has been withdrawn by IPOB.

The Indigenous People of Biafra on Sunday described as false the allegation that the group intended to disrupt the November 18 governorship election in Anambra State.

A statement made available to our correspondent in Awka, Anambra State by the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, said the instruction to its members and others was for them to boycott the poll not to disrupt it.

He said the concept of disrupting the poll was being propagated by some South-East leaders to discredit IPOB.

The statement read in part, “The leadership and entire members of the Indigenous People of Biafra worldwide, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to state for the purpose of clarity that we are boycotting the Anambra governorship election, which is a form of civil disobedience.

“The rumour that the IPOB intend to disrupt the polls on Saturday as peddled by politicians, Nnia Nwodo-led Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Independent National Electoral Commission, is not only baseless, but also it is completely unfounded.

“We insist on total boycott of all election because voting in Anambra or any other elections in Nigeria is an exercise in futility since Aso Rock has already decided who it wants to be sworn in as governor of the state.

“Risking one’s life to go and vote on Saturday, with trigger-happy Hausa/Fulani soldiers looking for a Biafran to kill, is a risky adventure not worth undertaking by any sane person.”

It alleged that IPOB had uncovered some plots to bring voters from certain South-East states to rig the Anambra poll.

Powerful added, “Anambra people must know that the same politicians asking us to go and vote were the same people that conspired with Aso Rock cabal to bring death to our land through the Operation Python Dance II.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo and these same Igbo politicians asking us to vote on Saturday have never condemned Fulani herdsmen killing our people on regular basis, but they quickly rushed to label their own people terrorists.

“No sane person should listen to them because they have come to do the bidding of their Arewa masters. The blood of over 90 Biafran youths, including the 28 people killed at Nnamdi Kanu’s residence, is upon the heads of these charlatans. Anybody listening to them is making the mistake of his life.

“We hereby warn all commercial vehicle operators to please stay away from Anambra State, starting from the evening of November 17, because any vehicle seen will be regarded as hostile and working to subvert the will of the people.

“Therefore, we advise everybody to stay in doors on that fateful day in Anambra State and to desist from driving through the state from 5pm on Friday, November 17 to 6pm on Saturday the 18th.”

Meanwhile, the lawmaker representing Anambra North Senatorial District, Senator Stella Oduah, has urged the electorate in Anambra State to come and exercise their franchise in the governorship election holding on Saturday.

Oduah, who dropped out of the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party, which produced Oseloka Obaze as the party’s candidate for the poll, warned that failure to exercise their franchise could lead to the declaration of a state of emergency in Anambra.

The former minister of Aviation and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Cooperation and Integration, stated that emergency declaration would not be in the best interest of the state, as the democratic leadership would be removed.

Source PUNCH