Military Intensifies Crack Down on IPOB Members over Death of Personnel

The military personnel attached to the “Operation Python Dance” in Eastern Nigeria have intensified its crackdown on members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) over the killings of its eleven personnel attached to the Mgbidi military check point last weekend.

Reports say that the army lost eleven soldiers attached to the Mgbidi military check point along the Onitsha/Owerri road in Eastern Nigeria as a result of an ambush by the separatist IPOB group at the weekend.

A reliable source who craved anonymity confirmed to our Correspondent that the commander, Lt. Col. Musa Gwadabe at a press conference declared wanted several persons of interest who allegedly planned and executed the killing of the army personnels; including one Chijoke Akpataofuelu, a known and notorious senior leader of the secessionist IPOB group who has been implicated by members of the group already arrested by the military.

The military authorities also declared wanted for questioning, one Nneka Ofodile, who is said to be the fiance of the principal suspect, Chijoke Akpataofuelu

The (IPOB) had at the weekend claimed in its radio broadcast that it was responsible for the ambush which led to the murder of eleven military personnel at the Mgbidi military check point as it boasted to launch further attacks on the security structures that venture to thwart their efforts in their bid to liberate the people of Eastern States in Nigeria from the shackles of state oppression.

It further stated that they succeeded in ambushing the military guards at the checkpoints in the area with sophisticated weapons and killed them before setting their vehicles ablaze.

They reiterated that IPOB was fighting to secede from Nigeria, following the socio -political and economic marginalization of the Ibo speaking tribes in the Eastern States of Nigeria.

In response to the attack and claims by IPOB, the army and other security agencies have intensified their crackdown on members of the group over the gruesome murder of the soldiers, as they embark on stop and search of motorists; as well as house to house search and seeking relevant intelligence information on the whereabouts of the alleged perpetrators.

Reports also revealed that the military had remained undaunted over the violations of alleged human rights abuses by members of the Operation Python Dance searching for the fleeing IPOB members at Nnewi and its environs.

They have been accused of harassing innocent citizens and molesting unsuspecting persons going about their lawful activities, including women, children, young girls and the aged; for unsubstantiated accusations of harbouring IPOB members and their collaborators.

An eyewitness, who wished to remain anonymous at Nnewi, one of the communities where the raid is taking place told our reporter that Chijoke’s girlfriend, Nneka Ofodile and several others are now on the run apparently to evade arrest by the security personnel, as they feared that extrajudicial treatment may be meted out on them by the army.

He also stated that the security personnel have spread its dragnet to all the villages in the area seeking information to apprehend those that can assist them get across to Chijoke, who is now on the run.

It was further gathered that the military officers were said to have raided the community and arrested Nneka aged parents and taken to unknown destination, where they allegedly brutalized them some days before releasing them.

Pa Okorie told our reporter that they were severely tortured and manhandled by the military over their refusal to disclose the whereabouts of their daughter, Nneka.

According to him, “some young men in the area who were forcefully arrested with us were taken to an unknown location and shot dead.”

It would be recalled that the struggle for secession by the people of the Eastern part of Nigeria led by Lt Col. Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu in 1967, degenerated into conflict and snowballed into a civil war in the Country which ended in January 1970.

Also, the continued arrest and detention of IPOB propagandists, Nnamdi kanu, and the recent plans by the Nigerian Government to extradite Sam Ekpa, one of the Biafra protagonist among other social issues have further fuelled the crisis in the region.