IPOB: Igbo group alleges militarization of South-East region
Igbo group, Igbo National Council (INC), has condemned in strong terms the alleged invasion of the home of Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor in Oraifite, Anambra state by a team of security operatives, comprising the police and military officers.
Ejiofor is counsel to the Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Following the incident, the police had claimed that IPOB members burnt two of its officers to death, hence declaring Ejiofor wanted.
But in a video shared on Facebook on Tuesday, Ejiofor wondered why police stormed his residence despite speaking with the area police commander earlier.
He claimed that some police officers took away the corpses of those killed and burnt them somewhere.
However, INC, in a statement signed by its National President, Chilos Godsent and National Secretary, Mr. Zulu Ofoelue, and made available to newsmen in Umuahia, the Abia state capital, described the action of the combined team of security operatives as a show of wickedness and hatred against the Igbo race.
The socio-political body urged the Nigeria Police and other security agencies operating in the eastern Nigeria to stop forthwith the killings of armless civilians and the militarization of the zone.
Parts of the statement read, “While we condole with the families of the two men of the Nigerian Police Force that was said to have lost their lives during the attack, according to the Police Press Statement signed by SP Haruna Mohammed – PPRO of Anambra State Police Command, we also condemn in strong terms the unprofessional, reckless and wanton killing or civilians and burning of houses in Oraifite community during said attempt to arrest Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor who is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
“INC is not ignorant of the deliberate policy of the present regime of the Federal Government of Nigeria to militarize the Eastern Nigeria in other to find reasons to launch merciless military offensive against the region which, is meant to manifest the orchestrated plan to create fears and annihilation of the people of the Eastern Nigeria before the 2023 Presidential Election which South-East Zone is seriously demanding to produce the President of Nigeria”.