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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja and Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
President Muhammadu Buhari has described as sad and shocking, the beheading of Master Warrant Officer Audu Linus and his partner, Private Gloria Mathew, after allegedly being shot by terrorist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB).
The president has also directed the military authorities and other security agencies to do their utmost in apprehending the perpetrators of the barbaric act and bring them to justice.
Buhari, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on behalf of the government and the entire nation, condoled with the Nigerian Army and the families of the soldiers killed on Saturday, on their way to finalise their marriage rites.
The statement read in parts: “The corpses were inhumanely treated and gleefully posted on social media platforms.
“The president joins fellow citizens in expressing a deep sense of shock and condemns the barbarism of the perpetrators of this unfortunate incident, and similar acts of violence against law enforcement agents, describing it as alien to all cultures and civilisations.
“President Buhari calls on all leaders – community, regional and national – to “speak with one voice, to show that the entire country is against this cruel and barbaric act of violence. This is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, IPOB has denied the allegation of a barbaric killing and subsequent beheading of the army couple.
The spokesperson of the group, Emma Powerful, in a statement, yesterday, noted that those who carried out the act deliberately wanted to rope in IPOB and destroy its reputation before the international community.
He said: “We, therefore, wish to place on record that IPOB has no hands in the said atrocity which is an abominable act in Igbo tradition. No true Igbo will hurt an in-law, how much more a married daughter (Ada) in Igbo land. Even the ancestors will avenge such wickedness.
“Before the army jumped into their jaundiced conclusion that such an abominable act was masterminded by IPOB, what investigations did they carry out to substantiate their claims. When have armed gunmen or criminals recruited by evil politicians, in connivance with the same security agencies, in their desperation to demonise IPOB, become IPOB members.”
Powerful, in his counter claim, added: “The compromised and Fulani-dominated Nigeria security agencies, particularly the Nigerian military, is behind the on-going secret genocide in Biafra land, under the guise of hunting for IPOB members, while the real mass murderers, the Fulani bandits, are on the prowl in Northern Nigeria.
“They have always looked for an occasion to attack innocent Igbo youths. Who knows the number of innocent Biafrans they will rope in in the aftermath of this abominable act and tag them the suspects?
“The Nigeria Army should leave IPOB alone because we are not unknown gunmen and those who are pursuing them. The monster they created is now after them, yet they keep pointing accusing fingers at us. The latest allegation is part of their propaganda to stain our global reputation, but the world knows they are lying. How come that the Fulani bandits and terrorists beheading and massacring Nigerians, particularly in Southern Kaduna and Platuea state, go unpunished, while the Mighty Nigerian army is down South flexing muscles with innocent and unarmed IPOB members and citizens of South East.
But, ironically, when worse crimes are committed in the North by Fulani bandits and other terrorists, the same hypocritical security agencies will keep mute, and it is clear to all that most crimes and atrocities committed in the region were masterminded by retired soldiers and policemen or serving security agents within the region of South East.
Instead, they will begin to look for ways of absolving themselves.
“How come it’s only in Nigeria that IPOB members are cannibals? When will they stop lying against us? Nigerian security agencies should please leave us alone. We hate blood letting. We are not killers. We have, on our own, been battling these same criminals and others we can lay our hands on who are unleashing sorrow on innocent people. God will judge all those trying to paint us black for an evil we know nothing about.”
