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DSS gives narrative different from Gov Uzodinma on seven ‘wedding guests’ killed in Imo

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So our democracy is only under threat when DSS, police harass senators?

The last may not have been heard of the controversy surrounding the killing of seven youths at a wedding ceremony in the Awomamma community of Oru West local government area of Imo State on Monday as the Department of State Services (DSS), has come up with another explanation different from the position of the State government.

While Governor Hope Uzodinma, in a statement on Tuesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Oguwike Nwachuku, said those killed were bandits who had engaged security operatives in a gun battle, the DSS in a counter statement on Thursday, said the youths who were killed were members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the militia arm of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and not wedding guests.

In the statement made available to journalists in Owerri, the Service said the ESN members had engaged its operatives in a fierce gun battle but were felled by the superior firepower of the joint security team.

Read also:DSS dismisses report on operative’s detention, escape from Kuje prison

The statement read in part:

“Following the arrest of Chinonso Mmerem (aka Network), a member of IPOB militant wing, ESN, a sting operation was conducted by a joint security team on July 17, 2022, to arrest members of the criminal gang terrorizing Awomama and other parts of the state,” the agency said.

“In the course of the operation, the elements opened fire on the security forces which was consequently repelled with superior firepower leading to the neutralization of about seven members of the criminal group in the hideout used as their camp,” it added.

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