The police have arrested a dismissed army lance corporal allegedly responsible for training and recruiting people into the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the vigilante arm of the pro-Biafra group, IPOB. .
According to PremiumTimes, the 32 years old dismissed soldier, whose name was given as Livinus Owalum-Barnabas, was arrested on Sunday, at Gwagwalada Area Council of the Abuja by men of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
The ex-soldier was said to have been recruited by some members of IPOB in Abuja and sent to train newly recruited ESN in two of their training Camps in Abia and Delta States.
Upon his arrest, the suspect Reportedly confessed to having been employed by the IPOB who promised to pay him double of what he was receiving in the army.
He also Reportedly confessed to have trained at least 2,000 members of the ESN on combat operations, ambush and use of firearms, in the two camps between September to December last year.
According to PremiumTimes, the suspect told security operatives he was engaged by one ‘Mr Ebere’ who paid him N100,000 before he proceeded to Abia State.
He said Mr Ebere was later arrested alongside 14 other suspected members of the group who were using a Church premises for their meetings where they raised money to be sent to the South-east for buying of ammunition.
The leadership of the Biafra Independence Movement (BIM) and the Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra’ (BIM-MASSOB) have condemned the attack on its leader and founder of the organisation, Ralph Uwazuruike, by the Eastern Security Network (ESN) of Nnamdi Kanu’s Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
MASSOB-BIM said that the latest attack on the Igbo activist has justified the organisation’s earlier position that the proscribed leader of IPOB was not genuinely and firmly fighting for Biafra.
A statement signed by the MASSOB-BIM Director of information and Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity), Chris Mocha, warned the perpetrators of violence to have a rethink, adding that taking up arms, murder and burning military formations will not lead anywhere but will endager the lives of our Igbo youths.
Mocha said that Kanu allegedly sending members of the ESN to attack and kill Uwazuruike at his Owerri residence was to provoke BIM- MASSOB members to resort to violence. This, he said, will ultimately failed
BIAFRANS MUST NOT BE THE ONES TO WILFULLY SPILL BIAFRAN BLOOD ON BIAFRAN SOIL
We shall continue to state the obvious:
War is the last undesirable option for us, Biafrans. We should boldly and courageously profess this but must not run away if one is brought to us due to no fault of ours. Even at that, we must choose carefully and wisely too.
Biafra agitators shouldn’t be the ones to bring war or violence to Biafraland against their own.They shouldn’t be the ones to wilfully spill Biafran blood on Biafran soil.This is because the consequences could be divisive, colossal and unintendedly indeterminate in terms of its reprisal, ricocheting effects.
As other parts of Nigeria are imploding, Biafraland must be insulated from it and protected by Biafrans themselves because of our unique experiences in the past. Let this ugly history not repeat itself again in our time.The war of the 1960’s was unprepared as it was brought to us but that generation fought gallantly and made their marks regardless because they consulted, collaborated and overwhelmingly agreed within the limited time left for them.
This time around, we must not be the ones to rush into the unprepared war or hostility ourselves unless brought to us like in the 60’s in which case we would be forced to defend ourselves. Still, it remains an expensive venture——must not be done unilaterally (if success is to be assured), rather it should be a collective endeavour. Humanitarian considerations, air, land and sea access and defensive strategies must be brought into immediate and reasonable purview of contemplatiion. And with the uncertainty and its inevitability increasingly stares the Nigerian state in the face, our own priorities should also be to equip ourselves, conserve energy and what we have and not the other way round. Be vigilant, consult, collaborate,synergize , wait for any eventual aggression by the enemy aggressors and not us to be the ones to be destabilising Biafraland and killing Biafrans of any shape with impunity as we see it today. That is a self-destructive strategy and tactics that must be discouraged , changed and jettisoned.
Ebonyi has imposed a curfew from 8 pm to 6 am at all entry and exit points with neighbouring states.
It also banned all social events such as wake keeping and nightclubbing from 6 pm, warning defaulters will be fined N1m.
Governor David Umahi announced the order on Wednesday while briefing reporters after the state Executive Council meeting.
He also ordered all native doctors to register with security agencies in the state immediately.
The Governor also ordered traditional medicine dealers to register with the Ministry of Health.
He warned anybody who fails to adhere to the directive will be prosecuted.
Umahi exonerated the security arm of the proscribed secessionist group Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Eastern Security Network, from the recent attacks on security agencies in the state.
The Governor lamented fake news purveyors were complicating the scenery challenges by spreading fake news through social media.
He directed security agencies to henceforth arrest and prosecute anybody spreading fake news capable of causing a crisis on social media.
He said: “We have agreed that all native doctors in the state and traditional medicine dealers must within seven days today register with the Commissioner for Border Peace, with the Commissioner for health and with the CP.
“There will be an executive order to this event and anyone that is caught doing otherwise will be arrested and will be prosecuted.
“We are aware there are some killings over the weekend; a policeman was killed, two army men were killed and I think one civilian and their killers are pure bandits.
“They do this killing and put it in social media that they are members of IPOB or ESN.
“Without standing for either IPOB or ESN but they continue to deny that they are not into violence but for me, criminality is criminality and I have directed security agencies to crack down on all criminal activities in the state.
“And for those who did the killings, the security agencies must bring them to book within 72 hours, they must do that.”
According to the group, Northern Nigeria has never experienced the present level of exposure to criminals and bandits under the régime of Buhari.
A coalition of 52 northern groups on Monday called on the global community to intervene in persuading the Nigerian government and United Nations to facilitate the final actualisation of the Biafran dream by the Igbo.
While describing as empty and of no effect “threats and promises” by President Muhammadu Buhari, the CNG said “between December 2020 and April 2021, over 970 students were abducted from their schools in the northern part of Nigeria with a substantial number still in captivity and some violently executed.”
Biafran flag
The spokesperson of CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, raised the views in a communiqué after an emergency meeting in Abuja.
According to him, Northern Nigeria has never experienced the present level of exposure to criminals and bandits under the régime of Buhari.
He said, “The CNG hereby resolves to call on our friends and the international community, the UK especially, to understand that our bilateral friendship is guided by the principles of sovereignty, promotion of peace and the standards that guide legitimate interference.
“Hence, their intervention, exclamations and actions should not be drawn to discountenance the effort of the Nigerian state to protect citizens from violence and terror.
“We finally wish to renew our request for the global community’s intervention in persuading Nigerian authorities and the United Nations to facilitate the final actualisation of the Biafran dream by the Igbo.
“The world should keep in mind that by far, a destabilised Nigeria will certainly threaten the peace and security of the entire sub-Saharan Africa.
“In the South, gangs of armed IPOB militia, violent secessionists and an assortment of militant groups appear to sense a huge vacuum in the capacity and political will by the Federal Government to challenge them, which they exploit with disastrous consequences on the nation’s security assets and specifically on northern communities and individuals living as minorities in the South while the presidency wallows in deflecting the issue.”
The CNG, however, attacked the Indigenous People of Biafra, saying it “is now taking a more ominous and repulsive form and context with an open declaration of violence and anarchy against other parts of Nigeria and the Nigerian State.”
As He Speaks About Ikonso’s Death, IPOB and Ebubeagu
April 27, 2021
Ralph Uwazuruike
By Mentus Ngwoke, Owerri
The Founder and the leader of Biafra Independence Movement and Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (BIM-MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has condemned the killing of Ikonso the commander of Eastern Security Network (ESN). However, having said that, he pointed out that the strategy used by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in pursuit of their goals is wrong and will only lead to more death. He said that on Monday during an interview with BBC News Igbo.
On the killing of Ikonso, Uwazuruike said: “I am saying sorry to IPOB for the loss of one of their members. It is a human that died and we are one as we are all seeking for the freedom of Biafra. We are all seeking for the same thing so it touches us when one of us is killed despite being in different groups”.
Speaking further Uwazuruike said he served the late General Odumegwu-Ojukwu for 10 years before he started MASSOB and he learnt a lot during his time with the former leader of Eastern region. He said Ojukwu told him Biafra can never be achieved through violence and that is where IPOB led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is getting it wrong.
“Nnamdi Kanu lacks that experience which I got while serving Ojukwu. A sovereign state is too much, this is not what you can achieve through force, they know all you are doing,” said Uwazuruike.
He added: “The security agencies know where to find MASSOB members, they know where to locate IPOB members. They know where Nnamdi Kanu is sleeping today, they know who is cooking for him. If they want you dead they will kill you immediately, but they don’t do that.”
He said the security agents arrest and lock up activists from time to time and could easily add what will kill them in the next five or six years to the food they serve them but they don’t do that.
“The State don’t come out to kill an activists maybe because of international protocols. But we come out to say we are hiding, we are protecting ourselves, we have security. If they (The State) want your security to kill you, your security will kill you,” he said.
He said the only way to get the government to come to the negotiation table is by stopping the flow of crude oil from the Niger Delta. “Even if you get Biafra by pointing gun at people the international community will not recognise you,” he added.
Speaking about Ebubeagu, he said the South East governors got it wrong when they said Ebubeagu will work in collaboration with the police. Explaining what he meant, he said members of the security outfit are supposed to be only Igbos whose job will be to go into the bushes and forests to arrest criminals with AK-47 and hand them over to the police because they have no power to prosecute.
According to him, people will not have confidence in Ebubeagu if members of the police who are from different tribes are part of the security outfit. He added that people will think they are killer herdsmen in police uniforms when they see them in the bush and they can’t communicate with Igbo language.
The federal government has advised the UK to rescind its plan to grant asylum to IPOB members – Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, explains why FG is opposed to the new UK policy – The asylum to IPOB members may strain relations between the Nigerian and the UK government
The Nigerian government said it is opposed to the reported plan by the UK to grant asylum to members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, on Tuesday, April 20, in Abuja described the decision by the UK government as sabotaging the fight against terrorism in Nigeria, The Cable reported. Lai Mohammed said Biafra agitators are secessionists.
Commenting at a forum organised by NAN, he said: “Let me say straightaway that this issue is within the purview of the honourable minister of foreign affairs and I am sure he will handle it appropriately.
“But as the spokesman for the federal government of Nigeria, I will say that if indeed the report that the UK will grant asylum to supposedly persecuted IPOB and MASSOB members is true, then something is wrong somewhere.” The minister stated that IPOB has been proscribed and designated as a terrorist organisation in Nigeria. Mohammed stated any asylum awarded to members of the group would be a disrespect to Nigeria, The Punch reported. He said: ”The decision amounts to sabotaging the fight against terrorism and generally undermining Nigeria’s security. “It is not only unconscionable, it is inexplicable. “For the UK to choose this time to give succour to IPOB beggars belief and calls to question the UK’s real intention. The minister said IPOB is alleged to be behind the recent attacks in the south-east despite denials by the group.
FG says agitators will flee from Nigeria when crisis erupts He said what the UK has done is like Nigeria offering asylum to members of the IRA before the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement. The minister’s comments came after UK Visas and Immigration had released new guidelines to its decision-makers on how to consider and grant asylum applications by members of Biafran secessionist groups. Meanwhile, the minister of police affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, has directed the police force to neutralise perpetrators of violence in the southeast and elsewhere in Nigeria. Dingyadi on Monday, April 19, disclosed that he has directed an intelligence-led kinetic operational against the culprits attacking police formations.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the south-east governors of compiling the names of its members to hand over to the federal government.
The spokesman of the group, Emma Powerful who made this known on Saturday said that the list is being compiled with the support of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and some traditional rulers.
IPOB, which had been outlawed as a terrorist organisation, also accused the Igbo leaders of attempting to clamp down the Eastern Security Network (ESN), which it runs as a security arm.
“This wicked move was suggested by the Nigeria Government and her security operatives with hope to weaken IPOB and ESN making every effort to flush terrorists out of our land,” Powerful said in a statement.
“Our efforts to stop terrorists in the East have indisputably intensified since the formation of ESN but regrettably, the politicians and government officials including local authorities in some communities in South East are sabotaging these efforts.
“The South-Eastern Governors in collaboration with all the Traditional Rulers in the Zone and the PGs of all the Communities in the Zone are compiling names of suspected IPOB members in their respective communities to hand over to Nigeria security agencies for possible executions.”
IPOB added that the purported clampdown was because the ESN is seen as a menace in the south-east which has been recording increasing criminal attacks in recent weeks.
It said it has nothing to do with those carrying out the attacks, adding: “We wonder why Government will continue to associate us with that group without investigations.”
“The Nigeria Government must understand that IPOB cannot be decimated no matter what they do. The unknown gunmen are not ESN or IPOB,” the group said.
BT Afrika 