Scores of purported members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) have been neutralized by Nigerian Army troops in Imo State.
Last Friday, the accused IPOB/ESN members were slain during a raid on their camp, which was located between Ezinifite town and the Amaruru area of the state.
ESN is the militant branch of IPOB, a separatist group. Nnamdi Kanu, the group’s leader, is now being held by Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS), and is facing charges of terrorism and other crimes.
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During the operation, some soldiers received gunshot wounds and were brought to the hospital for treatment.
Pump-action shotguns, locally built firearms, revolver pistols, 7.62 mm special ammunition, live cartridges, machetes, and IPOB flags were recovered by the military during the raid.
Kanu, the head of IPOB, founded ESN in December 2020 to safeguard the people of the South-East and South-South areas from claimed terrorists and bandits invading from the north.
Kanu characterized the group as a clone of the Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun, which was established by governors in the region to combat insecurity.
“The sole aim and objective of this newly formed security outfit known as Eastern Security Network is to halt every criminal activity and terrorist attack on Biafraland,” Kanu had said.
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“This outfit, which is a vigilante group like the Amotekun in the South-West and the Miyetti Allah security outfit, will ensure the safety of our forests and farmland which terrorists have converted into slaughter grounds and raping fields.”
He added that the establishment of the security outfit became necessary following what he described as the “failure” of the governors of the South-South and South-East to put in place measures to protect the people in those regions.
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