Army invade Imo community in search of IPOB leader
The peace of Umuonyeoka Ihitteafoukwu community in Ahiazu-Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State was violently disrupted on Tuesday August 6, 2024 as armed soldiers invaded the area shooting indiscriminately into the air beating and arresting every young man in sight.
The attack which also saw the distinction and setting ablaze of some buildings in the locality, including the rented apartment of a suspected top advocate of Biafra in the locality Orji Onyewuchi Ikechukwu.
Mr Ikechukwu, who the authorities believed to be the one providing intelligence to the Eastern Security Network, ESN, a militant wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which has for some years now been agitating for the political independence of Biafra.
The military operation operation forced everyone to scamper to safety including their main target, Ikechukwu who eye witnesses say narrowly escaped being caught unawares.
He was said to have left the house some few minutes earlier before the military came attacking.
“Ikechukwu would have been hurt if he been home at the time the soldiers came in. He had just stepped out of the house before the soldiers came. It’s like they got information that he was around the village,” said an eye witnesses
The military authorities said Ikechukwu was wanted for aiding IPOB in their anti social activities that have destabilized the socio-economy of the region, vowing to arrest him alive or dead.
Incidences of military invasion and illegal arrest of innocent youths in Imo and the entire South Eastern Nigeria has become common place as the Nigerian State battles to stop violent crimes allegedly perpetrated by the ESN in the region.
