Arrest of 80 IPOB and ESN operatives by the military is a hoax – IPOB

• Claims those arrested could have been criminals or innocent people

From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

Again, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has debunked the arrest of its affiliate, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) by the Nigerian army, insisting that their members are not easy to fly to be captured in the streets.

Spokesman of the group who reacted to the purported arrest of its members, Emma Powerful claimed that those arrested could have been criminal elements enforcing sit-at-home or innocent people. He also alleged that its members don’t engage security agencies.

“ESN are disciplined and focused on their primary objective of dislodging Fulani terrorists nicknamed herdsmen from our farmlands and forests. They do not engage the Nigeria Security Forces nor are involved in any criminality.

“For clarity purposes, IPOB members are not terrorists. Neither are they in the bushes and forests to displace Biafrans who decided to agitate for self-determination peacefully. Whereas ESN Operatives are IPOB volunteers who are keeping the land in peace against Fulani terrorists terrorising the entire Biafra Land.

“The people they claimed to have killed always are innocent Biafrans, not ESN Operatives. ESN Operatives are not on the streets of Biafran and can’t be captured or killed like civilians,” Powerful boasted.

He also added ” Nigeria security agencies know that there are criminal gangs in the Southeast region parading themselves as ESN. The ESN under the command of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu does not parade themselves because they are focused and disciplined on their assigned tasks. ESN does not have a social media handle and doesn’t engage in social media showbiz.

“No eighty (80) IPOB volunteers or ESN operatives were arrested by the military. The fake claim of arresting 80 IPOB volunteers or ESN members by the military is a hoax and should not be believed.

” If indeed military arrested persons, they must be innocent Igbo youths or criminals enforcing sit-at-home in the East.

“If Nigeria Army arrested 80 IPOB volunteers or ESN Operatives as they claimed, they should arraign them in an open court for proper investigations,” Powerful stated.