As security forces continue to clampdown on members of the secessionist group, Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), inhabitants of Umudibia community in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State have raised alarm over incessant night raids of homes in the community.
An elder who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, lamented that ‘innocent youths’ are being picked up from their beds in the community and others tracked to wherever they are in the country and arrested.
“Not just us alone in Umudibia community or in Imo State, but also in other southeast states; the security agents keep tracking our people, suspecting them of being IPOB members.
“If they (security agents) do not get our youths at their various home, we will hear that that have track and arrested them at a different location. We don’t know their offences”, the retired primary school teacher lamented
The clampdown may not be unconnected to the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu interview he granted an online medium, Sahara Reporters, were he described Nigeria as a zoo and accused Governor Rochas Okorocha of Islamizing Imo State.
According to the octogenarian, heavily armed security men on Monday (September 12th, 2016) raided the house of a Biafran activist, Mr George Nduka where IPOB members held meetings in the community.
He explained that, Mr George Nduka died during the raid at Umudibia, adding, the operatives whisked away two young men (names withheld) who were close friends to Steve George Nduka, the only son of the deceased believed to be a staunch IPOB member.
He further added the whereabout of Steve George Nduka was yet unknown after the operatives stormed their house in a commando-style in the early hours of the fateful day.
Also, a woman leader in the area, identified as Madam Umunna maintained that young men suspected by the security forces to have ties with IPOB are rounded up and arrested without giving them “time to explain themselves”.
Madam Umunna stressed, “not just Steve George Nduka alone”, that there are unnamed persons whose whereabouts are still unknown since the clampdown began.
She noted that the community members have reached out to the various security agencies to check for the ‘missing’ persons in their custody, but that all denied they never arrested any such persons.
“We even raise money to go to Abuja, and Lagos from Owerri to see if the police are keeping him (Steve George and there; but no way. His family members are worried, they fear if he (Steve George Nduka) is still alive, because we saw many others who were arrested and detained”, she told The Nigerian Observer
According to a BBC report of 18th December 2015, young persons who belong to the secessionist groups as IPOB are mainly ethnic Igbos who feel they have been discriminated against by those in power.
Similarly, the International Crisis Group reports that the activities of Biafran separatist groups, including IPOB, are “an attempt to attract attention and spending from the central government based on economic and political grievances.
Members of the group who are opportune to leave Nigeria on exile rarely return to the country for fear of prosecution by the central government, as many active members of the Biafran group have been incarcerated.
