Security Operatives Intensify Search For IPOB Member, Kenechukwu Chijioke

As separatist agitations continue to gather momentum in Nigeria, security forces have intensified its efforts towards arresting and detaining key figures especially members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

One of the staunch members of the group, Chigozie Kenechukwu Chijioke, a widower, whose whereabout is unknown for now is a top target after the murder of his friend and friend Nwokike Kayinayo Andy also known as Ikonso by security agents in April 2021.

Kenechukwu Chijioke, who hails from Mbarakpaka in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State is a pro Biafra leader who lived in Ndiobosi Ishieke, a border community in Benue State.

Though he is a pastor, he also doubled as spokesman for the separatist group and readily offered his church as meeting point for the group’s meetings.

Chijioke actively led and participated in the EndSARS protest in different parts of the South East. He was arrested after the protest and detained for 3 months without trial by security forces.

Chijioke who resides in Ndiobosi a border community between Ebonyi and Benue States was last seen on May 30 when the village was attacked by unknown gunmen. His church was burnt and his sister Ezinne Chijioke alongside 30 other members of the community were killed.

Security operatives have continued to raid Ndiobosi community and his hometown, Mbarakpaka in search of him. One of his friends who did not want his name in print said he had been arrested by the police on two separate occasions and was tortured for not disclosing the whereabout of Chijioke.

Recall that Chijioke’s wife, Gift Ekpedom, who gave birth to two children for the Biafran activist was kidnapped by unknown gunmen sometime in December, 2019. After several months of consistent search by both the police and the local vigilante, she is now presumed dead.