Ebonyi : We didn’t engage police in any gun battle – IPOB insist

By Cyprian Ebele, Onitsha 

The leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Sunday denied engaging the police in any gun battle in Ishieike,  Ebonyi State

The group however, described the allegation that it engaged the police at the said area as a fallacious and fabricated claim by the Nigerian Police Abakaliki.

The leadership of IPOB made this known in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, and issued to newsmen in Onitsha, Anambra state.

The statement reads in part: “We want the public to ignore the false claims by the Nigerian Police as IPOB-ESN did not engage the Police in any gun battle, and no ESN Operative was killed by the Nigerian Police in Ebonyi State. The Nigerian police killed criminals that were sponsored to demonise and destroy IPOB.

IPOB is a disciplined non-violent movement. On the other hand, ESN Operatives are armed vigilantes doing a great job of securing Biafran farms and farmers from marauding Fulani terrorists. ESN Operatives do not engage neither the Nigerian Army nor their Police and never civilians except the Fulani terrorists masquerading as Herdsmen. 

“The Nigerian government created the same criminals that they arranged and planned attacks with while the Nigerian Army and Police also maliciously and dubiously tagged the crimes on IPOB and ESN. The Nigerian security agencies knew the criminals, and they refused to call them by their names because they were all working together against IPOB-ESN and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

“The recruited criminal Agents have even publicly disassociated themselves from IPOB when they could no longer stand the pressure from IPOB. Nevertheless, the Nigerian Security Agencies keep associating the activities of the  sponsored criminals to ESN. 

“The lies that the Nigerian security agencies continue to peddle against IPOB will continue to erode their leftover integrity. The Nigerian government and her security agencies should leave IPOB and ESN alone and stop blackmailing us with the activities of the recruited criminals in the SouthEast Region.

“IPOB remains a non-violent organization struggling to restore Biafra sovereignty and independence. The Nigerian government has done everything to provoke us into violence, but we have maintained our cool for the appointed time. 

“That IPOB is peaceful at this moment is not a guarantee that we shall remain peaceful forever if we are continuously provoked. Biafra freedom is a child of necessity for the survival of the Igbo race.  

“The petty propaganda from the Nigeria government and her security agencies will not stop the quest for Biafra freedom. This Biafra agitation championed by IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu will never succumb to intimidation, imprisonment, propaganda, blackmail

“Nigerian Police Command in Abakaliki should stop linking IPOB to the activities of the criminals. Also, the Nigerian Police should stop killing innocent civilians and tagging them ESN. If the Nigeria Police want to test the wrath of ESN, they should go into the bush and attack them. The objective of ESN is to dislodge Fulani terrorists nicknamed herdsmen in our land not to engage the Nigeria Security Forces,” it affirmed