IPOB justifies clash with soldiers, claims five innocent people killed in Orlu

The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says Nigerian soldiers killed five innocent residents in Okporo community in Orlu local government area of Imo State during a clash with the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and men of the Nigerian Army on Friday.

Though the Nigerian Army said only one person was killed, IPOB insists that five people were killed while several others were injured in the skirmish between the security outfit and soldiers drawn from the 34 Artillery Brigade in Obinze.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, the group accused the Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma of working with the Army to attack and flush out ESN officers from the bushes where they are operating from.

The statement reads:

“ESN personnel are in the bush and forest chasing Fulani terrorists and herdsmen who are over there terrorising our members and sisters in their respective farms, not Nigeria security agencies but they are looking for ESN’s trouble.

Read also: One dies in IPOB members, soldiers clash in Imo

“Since the formation and inauguration of ESN by our great leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on December 12, 2020, they have been inside the bushes and forests; their job is to protect farmers from invaders who made pronouncements that all lands in Nigeria belong to them.

“Every time, Nigerian Army and the police would come and look for their trouble in the bush. They came to Orlu where civilians were doing their normal business thinking that ESN would allow them to do what they did in Obigbo, Rivers State during #EndSARS protest.

“ESN would not allow what happened in Obigbo happen again in any part of Biafra. They were busy killing innocent people in Orlu; they killed about five innocent people and destroyed properties worth millions of naira in Orlu.

“ESN arrived and they ran away from Orlu. It was the handiwork of Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, who collaborated with Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Obiozor and the Army Commander in Obinze to ensure they flush and attack ESN from the bushes where they are operating.

“Hope Uzodinma announced a 6am to 6pm curfew in Orlu to deceive the gullible Nigerians who might think he is innocent of what had been happening in Orlu since last week.”

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