https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/06/africa/owerri-nigeria-prison-overrun-intl/index.html
Almost two thousand inmates were broken out of a Nigerian prison as a result of explosives used on an administrative block. There has been blame placed on the secessionist group IPOB or the Indigenous People of Biafra and it’s parliamentary group the Eastern Security Network. The group has past transgressions against the Nigerian state, as they also attempted to gain access to the police armoury at the headquarters. President Buhari has called the attack “an act of terrorism.” The freed inmates are being pursued by law officials. The leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has released a statement denying their involvement in the incident. The IPOB has been a present threat in the Nigerian state since 2017 as they push for independence. I think that this is an interesting yet not surprising event. I am extremely educated on Nigeria’s internal affairs however the existence of a non-conforming group is not surprising. I do know that Nigeria has previously had a civil war over a secessionist state named the republic of Biafra from 1967-70. It seems that the IPOB has similar notions as they have made claims of unjust killing of their unarmed members by Nigerian security forces a few years ago. It seems that the Nigerian government is not through with the complicated nature of a seemingly non aligned group. When I read about this event, I thought about our recent lesson about international conflict. With the ongoing tension and violence with the IPOB, I would classify it as a civil war- sort of conflict. I wasn’t very surprised by it as this type of conflict is the most common. Due to the amount of time that a version of the IPOB group has been around I find it unlikely that it is just going to mindlessly fade away. I think that it is more likely that this turns into the second of civil wars surrounding the group.