Anambra: Police, suspects trade words over killing of Inspector

Thirty there suspected members of Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) arrested in connection with the killing of a police inspector in Nnewi, on Sunday, traded words with the Anambra State Police Command over their involvement in the killing.

At the Police Command in Awka, the state capital, on Sunday shortly after the briefing by the Force Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Jimoh Mashood, the suspects started shouting, “We are innocent, our hands are clean, we are traders and we are not members of IPOB. This is wickedness”.

One of the suspects, Mr. Vincent Okarafor, told reporters that he was returning from the funeral of a Reverend father when policemen attested him and his apprentice.

“My name is Vincent Okarafor. I am the leader St. Mathew Catholic Church choir in Nnewi where I just came back from the burial of a Reverend Father when some policemen came to arrest me and my boy in the shop and started beating us.

“All am saying is that whoever that planned this thing, God is watching all of us, and they will surely pay for it”.

Mr. Sunday Ilonze, a preacher with the Anglican Church in Nnewi, narrated that he was arrested along with his apprentice in his shop by the police and they did not tell them why they were arrested.

“I’m innocent of all these allegations and I am sure that every one of us here are innocent. This is what I call wickedness and they will not go free,” he said.

Speaking earlier, the Police Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, Mr. Jimoh Moshood, said that the 33 suspects were arrested in connection with the killing of a police inspector by members of IPOB.

“On 23rd November, 2018, there was intelligence report that members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), an unlawful terrorist organization,

were sighted gathering in their hundreds with dangerous weapons near Teaching Hospital, Owerri Road, Nnewi about to cause disturbance of Public Peace and public safety in the Nnewi and environs.

“Consequently, Police Patrol teams led by the Area Commander, Nnewi, ACP Nnanna Oji Ama, mobilised to the scene to prevent them from causing breakdown of law and order and mayhem, and destruction of lives and property.

“The Police Team, while proceeding to the scene came under ambush from the IPOB members, in the process, a Police Inspector was killed, two (2) other Police Officers were seriously injured and one Police Patrol vehicle was set ablaze, and the proscribed IPOB members snatched and carted away two (2) AK47 Rifles and one Beretta Pistol with ammunition.

The IPOB members subsequently attacked other innocent people on sight with machete and other dangerous weapons as they marched towards the Agboedo Market shouting “No Elections without Referendum,” he added.