The spokesperson of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Emma Powerful, has condemned the killing of eight security operatives in Oriendu, Umualumaku in Ehime Mbano local government area of Imo State.
This is even as he charged security agencies to go after the people behind the killings and stop hounding innocent citizens.
Suspected gunmen on Tuesday ambushed and set ablaze eight security operatives under the joint task force (JTF) drawn from the Army, Police, and Civil Defence.
Powerful in a statement said such killing was not needed to achieve a Biafra nation, saying IPOB is a peaceful organisation.
He called on security agencies against reprisals on innocent citizens while searching for the culprits of the killings.
He said, “We, therefore, ask the Nigeria police to go after the criminals who murdered their colleagues and not after innocent villagers. Often than not, cowards in the Nigeria security agencies carry out revenge on ordinary citizens anytime armed criminals attack them.
“No villagers will attack policemen within their village. Therefore, no Ehime Mbano community should be invaded as a result of the attack and murder of the security officers,” Powerful said.
The statement reads, “Such reckless attacks and shedding of blood are not needed to achieve Biafra freedom in our territory. The Biafra agitation championed by IPOB since 2012 has been totally peaceful.
“If, indeed, the Nigeria government is interested in fishing out the murderers of the Police officers at Ehime Mbano, they know exactly what to do and where to focus their attention.”
He maintained that Oriendu people were innocent and unsafe in the hands of criminals parading as Biafra agitators saying “Nigeria security forces must know that the villagers are innocent and are not safe in the hands of these criminals who are claiming to be fighting for Biafra freedom.
“Nevertheless, we in IPOB condemn the siege and attack on the southeast by the police and military and other Nigeria security forces. Nigeria must dismantle illegal roadblocks that they have set up across the Southeast region to be extorting from motorists.
