3 injured as IPOB allegedly protested in South Africa during President Buhari's visit

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Thursday claimed responsibility for protests outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa’s seat of presidency, during President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit.

It claimed that its members were attacked by South African police.

Policemen reportedly fired rubber bullets at a small group of Nigerians who were protesting against the state visit.

According to South Africa’s Sunday Times, at least three people were injured when police fired the rubber bullets.

It said the protesters claimed that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was not meeting the real President of Nigeria.

The protesters were said to have claimed the man meeting Ramaphosa was not Buhari but an impostor.

Outlawed IPOB Secretary Emma Powerful, in a statement, accused Nigeria and South African governments of sponsoring the attack.

He said the group’s leader Nnamdi Kanu would hold an emergency broadcast to “expose the real reason” for Buhari’s visit which “was kept away from the public”.

IPOB said the alleged attack was “a thoroughly ugly and distasteful development that pales the white apartheid regime into insignificance in terms of its brutality and incredulity”.