The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has strongly condemned the Nigerian Army for mislabeling criminals arrested in the Southeast as operatives of the Eastern Security Network (ESN). In a statement released on Tuesday, Emma Powerful, the spokesman for IPOB, accused the military of using this tactic for media manipulation and propaganda against the group.
The Nigerian Army recently claimed to have invaded ESN camps and captured its commanders in the Orlu and Okigwe local government areas of Imo State. However, Powerful dismissed these claims as false and unprofessional.
“We have repeatedly cautioned the Nigerian military to call the criminals they capture by their names,” Powerful said. “It’s very unprofessional for the Nigerian military to tag every criminal element captured on IPOB as ESN just for media blackmail against IPOB and propaganda to continue their criminal activities.”
Powerful emphasized that ESN operatives are engaged in protecting Biafra’s farmlands from what he described as “marauding Fulani terrorists masquerading as herdsmen.” He alleged that the Nigerian military’s real aim is to destroy ESN to facilitate the activities of these so-called terrorists.
“We know that the Nigerian military and their sister security agencies want to destroy ESN in order to pave the way for the Fulani terrorists to destroy our farmlands,” he stated. “We advise the Nigerian government and her security agencies to desist from linking ESN and IPOB volunteers to their sponsored criminal elements who were kidnapping and snatching people’s properties in the name of the Biafra struggle.”
Powerful also accused the government and security agencies of turning a blind eye to the real criminal elements terrorizing the Okigwe and Orlu communities, insisting that IPOB has consistently disassociated itself from these actions.
