Members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are deliberately attacking security formations in the South East to steal weapons in order to fight for the actualisation of the Biafra Republic, experts and security operatives have said. Also, a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has described the assault on the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) and the police headquarters in Imo State as a sign of state failure, saying the federal government allowed non-state actors to take charge.
Credible sources said the IPOB members who stormed Owerri, the Imo State capital in the early hours of Monday, and released multiple assaults, began their adventure from Onitsha in Anambra State and drove for over two hours at night.
It changed into learnt that the gunmen met resistance from infantrymen at Ukworji alongside Onitsha-Owerri Express Way however overpowered the security operatives.
Two infantrymen had been stated to had been killed at the same time as their vehicles had been burnt through the assailants.
Another supply said a high stage security sign became overlooked with the aid of the South-East governors, inclusive of the commissioners of police inside the 5 states within the location.
“There was a signal from Abuja to the governors of Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu and Abia States.
“The commissioners of police in the states had been additionally knowledgeable that members of the outlawed IPOB and their so-referred to as Eastern Security Network (ESN) had been planning to launch attacks.
“I suppose the leaders there have to percentage part of the blame because they have been told from Abuja that the miscreants would target security formations with a view to get arms,” he said.
It turned into amassed that the assailants had made fruitless attempts to take over the Imo State Government House however had been resisted.
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has condemned the assaults, pronouncing the primary intendment of the IPOB members was to create fears within the minds of the human beings and on the equal time try to steady the release of their fellow criminals in custody.
‘Attacks are about secession’
A retired Assistant Inspector of Police, Ambrose Aisabor, said on Monday that the IPOB agitators are bent on affirming the Biafra republic and consequently building up their armoury through attacking safety formations.
According to him, this explained why the safety arm of the proscribed organization has no longer been attacking harmless citizens.
He stated, “If you study it, they're now not attacking ordinary humans. They are attacking the police, the military, and the air force that is what they're doing.
“Why they're attacking those navy formations is due to the fact they want to have enough ammunition to permit them prosecute their war towards the authorities of Nigeria. They need to have their own police; they need to have their own armoury and so on.”
AIG Aisabor said they've grow to be so emboldened to assault the security formations because of the failure of intelligence at the a part of the safety agencies.
According to the safety professional, it is high time the security organizations stepped forward on their intelligence gathering to stop destiny attacks.
He additionally called on the federal government to urgently convoke a national safety summit related to all stakeholders which include the security experts, conventional rulers, non secular leaders and government officers, to give you solutions on addressing the lack of confidence within the land particularly the South-East part of the united states.
Also speaking, Veteran Wale Okunniyi, who's the convener of June 12 Pro-Democracy Movement and spokesman for the National Consultative Front (NCFront), said the government allowed the IPOB challenge to degenerate.
The likes of IPOB might continue,” he brought.
A senior army officer, who spoke on situation of anonymity said that the attack is a affirmation that terrorism has come to stay in Nigeria, lamenting that the political class isn't confronting the evil in the best manner.
The officer believed the assault changed into done by using contributors of IPOB and became for the cause of sending a message to the authorities on the energy of the organization.
“The unlucky aspect is that the political magnificence and those in authority aren't doing sufficient to stem the tide. IPOB will release more attacks. They have exceeded a statement with this and could probably release greater if they may be no longer stopped,” he said.
Terrorists monopolise violence – Falana
Speaking at the Imo assault, Falana stated the security structure of the neo-colonial country has collapsed, therefore the monopoly of violence has been taken over by means of terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers and other nihilist forces.
According to him, “A governor has disclosed that there are 30,000 bandits in the North West place by myself. That is in addition to the big military of the Boko Haram sect in the North East vicinity. Kidnappers and other crook gangs have taken over the relaxation of the united states.
“In the midst of the worsening safety situation coupled with a national strike by resident docs the president has left the united states to attend to his own fitness.
“The scenario goes to get worse as no one is in fee of the affairs of the united states of america. Another recession is within the offing as many groups are folding up at the same time as others are chickening out huge finances from the banks.
“Since the authorities has lost manipulate of the safety and the financial system, the choice before Nigerians is to installation defence committees for the safety of every network as a temporary degree.
“For lasting answers, it is excessive time that genuine modern forces embarked on mass mobilisation to put together the Nigerian humans for the final socialist reconstruction of the u . S .,” Falana stated.
How the attack turned into released
According to protection sources and lodgers on the nearby Rockview Hotel, the attackers arrived at the Nigerian Correctional Service and Imo Police Headquarters at approximately 1 am on Monday in extra than 20 vehicles comprising of Hilux and Sienna version to launch the attacks.
They had been said to have entered Owerri and surrounded the roundabout contrary the Government House, sang for a few secessionists songs for mins and made incarnations.
Thereafter, they divided themselves into companies. While some marched to the custodial facility, others moved to the headquarters of the nation police command.
The gunmen that moved to the correctional carrier had been said to have attempted to apply grenades and dynamites to break down the wall to no avail.
A custodial respectable who spoke to our correspondent at the circumstance of anonymity said, “Immediately they arrived they told the two guys on obligation that they have been not there to kill each person.
“They asked them to drop their guns and run away. They thereafter moved in going from one cell to the opposite, ordering inmates to flee.
“They informed them that they'd no motive to be in prison due to the fact Jesus Christ has risen from the useless.
“They thereafter moved to the places of work and burnt all of the warrant documents and different documents. They had been doping up, a demonstration that they may be not in reality on a assignment to kill. The most effective inmate that died was vulnerable and he slumped.”
The authentic stated that the gunmen thereafter set on fireplace all of the automobiles on sight, along with the operational vehicles.
A security source stated that people who attacked the police headquarters first approached the guards at the Government House gate and definitely instructed them that their assignment become no longer to kill, however to send a assertion to the federal government. They instructed them to run for his or her lives and then they riddled the gate with bullets.
They were said to have marched around the police headquarters unchallenged and set all of the cars ablaze. They also attacked the offices of the Criminal Investigation Department and let out all of the detainees.
Police blame IPOB
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, has ordered the immediate deployment of additional gadgets of Police Mobile Force (PMF) and different Police Tactical Squads to Imo State to reinforce security in Imo State and save you further attacks on safety formations.
In a declaration signed by using the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, the IGP said that initial investigations found out that the attackers, who came in their numbers with state-of-the-art weapons consisting of General-Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs), Sub-Machine Guns (SMGs), AK49 rifles, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), are contributors of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)/Eastern Security Network (ESN).
The declaration said the attempt by way of the attackers to gain get right of entry to to the police armoury at the headquarters turned into resisted by police operatives on obligation.
“The armoury is for this reason intact. Similarly, the police suffered no human casualty, apart from a police constable who sustained a minor bullet wound on his shoulder.
“The IGP, who condemned the assault on the security outfits, has in addition directed the Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command and a new Special Investigation Team (particularly installation to address cases of incessant assaults on protection formation/operatives in the place), to carry out holistic investigations into the incident so as to fishing-out the perpetrators and bringing them to justice,” the announcement stated.
6 inmates lower back, 35 refused to get away
The Nigerian Correctional Service said the day prior to this that six inmates had voluntarily back even as 35 others refused to escape from custody after the correctional facility turned into attacked.
A announcement signed by the spokesman for the Corrections Service, Francis Enobore, quoted the Acting Controller-General of Corrections, John Mrabure ordering a comprehensive research into the incident.
“The Owerri Custodial Centre in Imo State has been attacked with the aid of unknown gunmen and forcefully launched a complete of 1,844 inmates in custody,” the assertion said.
End the anarchy in Imo – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered applicable companies of the federal authorities to end what he known as “anarchy” in Imo State.
In a announcement on Monday via his spokesman, Garba Shehu, Buhari condemned what he known as a “deadly rebel attack.”
The president also ordered safety and intelligence companies in the kingdom and the geo-political zone to fully mobilise and pass after the terrorists, understand them and get them punished beneath the overall weight of the regulation.
IPOB kicks, as Nnamdi Kanu ‘hails’ assaults
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has reacted to Monday’s attack in Imo. Few mins after the assault, Kanu tweeted that no unmarried soul deserves to be in any prison in Nigeria.
“If Miyetti Allah terror herdsmen & other murderous #Fulani corporations, which include Boko Haram insurgents, may be arrested, freed and rehabilitated by using this neo-colonial Fulanised @NGRPresident, then no unmarried soul deserves to be in any prison in Nigeria. If you recognize you realize! #UGM,” he tweeted.
However, the Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Emma Powerful, had denied any involvement in the Imo attack.
“IPOB and ESN are acknowledged groups, now not unknown gunmen. ESN is in the bush chasing Fulani terrorists, why linking IPOB and ESN to this attack. IPOB and ESN have been no longer worried in the attack in Owerri Imo State and the latest assault on Onitsha Owerri street at Ukwuorji junction.
“It is not our mandate to assault safety employees or prison centers,” he stated.
From Abiodun Alade, Abdullateef Aliyu (Lagos), Jude A. Owuamanam (Owerri), Muideen Olaniyi & Hamisu K. Matazu (Abuja)
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