No fewer than seventeen members
of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Tuesday were allegedly shot by a
combined team of Police and other security agencies.
IPOB, in a statement signed by
Emma Powerful alleged that 70 others were arrested
by the security agencies.
The statement reads in part: “We
the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) find it distasteful
that rather than confront rampaging and murderous Fulani herdsmen, the Nigerian
army and police have continued their incessant and unwarranted attacks against
the peaceful family of IPOB in Ebonyi State”
” A combined team of Nigeria
Armed Forces invaded the venue of a peaceful IPOB gathering in Ebonyi LGA at
5pm on Sunday 27 October 2019 with more than 50 Hilux vans during an
inauguration ceremony and opened fire on defenceless mothers and fathers without
warning.
“Such mindless and animalistic
brutality cannot happen and has never happened in the north where the top four
most deadly terror groups are operating freely without restriction”.
“The security operatives, opened
fire on everybody at the venue of the meeting which resulted in many
casualties. 17 people sustained severe gunshot wounds while over 70 people were
abducted and taken to unknown location” he stated
Mr Powerful noted further that if
the same murderous zeal exhibited by the Nigerian Army and police in Ebonyi can
be exhibited in the fight against terrorism, banditry and lawlessness in the
north, peace and tranquillity will reign.
“The continued killing of
innocent civilians in Ebonyi State by terror herdsmen on one hand and Nigerian
army on the other is troubling”
“This continued invasion and
intimidation of Biafraland must stop. All those responsible for this attack
will pay dearly for it, them and their children”, Powerful added.
In a swift reaction, the
commissioner of police, Ebonyi state Police command who spoke to journalists
through the PPRO, ASP Loveth Odah, debunked the allegations, stating that it
only arrested six members of the group in a primary school in the state.
She said that IPOB members
started attacking the security agents immediately they sighted them.
Loveth noted further that the
IPOB members hit one of their DPO, one John with heavy stones on the head.
She added that he would have died
but for the helmet he was wearing and bulletproof vest he also wore.
She said: “Why are they saying
police burst into where they were holding a meeting? Are they supposed to hold
a meeting in Nigeria when they have been proscribed? In law, there is what is
called an unlawful assembly.
“Members of Indigenous People of
Biafra (IPOB) assembled unlawfully and the information got to us, that was on
October 27, 2019, at Oguzoronweya Primary School in Ebonyi Local Government
Area of Ebonyi State by 2.50p.m.
” On receiving the information,
men of Operation Puff Adder of our command, in active collaboration of other
security agencies, went to the place.
“We thought that IPOB members
were just normal people that gathered together to have an unlawful meeting even
when they know they are not lawful in Nigeria. But yesterday was very
different. As soon as police got to the area, to their greatest surprise, Mr.
John, the DPO of Kpirikpiri Division, was seriously attacked.
” If not because he was seriously
kitted as a policeman, having his helmet on him and his bulletproof, he would
have been killed. By now you would have just heard that a Chief Superintendent
of Police is dead.
“Their lawyer, who was with the
IPOB members was arrested. I talked with him and I was surprised that he denied
being their legal adviser. He said he was taking their briefs. I don’t know the
difference between a legal adviser and somebody who takes a brief for an
organisation.
“Many of them ran away but we
were able to arrest at least six of them; they are in custody. They are fully
dressed in IPOB uniform,” she stated.
When contacted, the Spokesman of
the Army, Musa Sagir did not respond to request for reaction at the time of
this report.
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