The federal government has traced a secret bank account in Paris to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group.
The Nation Newspaper reports that available intelligence reports indicate that funds in the account were used by IPOB for its activities across the world.
Some Nigerians were also discovered to have made huge deposits into the account in support of the group.
The investigation also indicates that the French ambassador to Nigeria Denys Gauer on Friday met with information minister Lai Mohammed, and while the details of the meeting were not clear yet, France was said to have assured Nigeria of their support in investigating IPOB.
Gauer said it would not support terrorist activities against the Nigerian government adding that government would take action when IPOB’s secret account is revealed.
The Nation quoted a top security source as saying: “Intelligence gathering has led to the discovery of an account in Paris into which some Nigerians in the Diaspora remit funds to support IPOB.
The source said it was these foreign networks of questionable characters that contributed to the declaration of IPOB as a terrorist group.
“From the said account, funds were being drawn for the activities of IPOB at home and abroad. The relevant security agencies did a thorough job and provided incontrovertible evidence on the basis of which the government proscribed the terrorist organisation.
“These Nigerians in the Diaspora are using France as a clearing house. “Investigations also confirmed inflows into the account from Holland, Hungary, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Turkey, Singapore and other parts of Europe.
“In fact, a football tournament was recently organised in Senegal to raise funds for IPOB. “As a matter of fact, the account is being used to get money from a lot of people in the Diaspora. What many Nigerians did not know is that the Minister of Information and Culture was talking on the basis of credible intelligence report.”
The source added: “With cooperation by the international community, especially relevant countries, we will soon get the list of all the people remitting funds into the account in Paris.”
Meanwhile, the leader of IPOB Nnamdi Kanu has challenged a court decision to proscribe his group.
Kanu, in a motion on notice filed against an order made by the Federal High Court on Wednesday, September 20, said the order proscribing IPOB as a terrorist organization was illegal.
The motion also stressed that the IPOB was a non-violent group and that the Abuja Division of the Federal High made its order based on a motion ex-parte without the presence of other party or parties involved in the matter.
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