Tobias Sylvester
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denied being behind the attack on the correctional facility and police investigations department in Owerri, Imo State.
KanyiDaily had reported how gunmen stormed Owerri correctional centre on Monday morning, setting the prison on fire and freeing hundreds of inmates.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, had linked IPOB’s Eastern Security Network (ESN) to the attacks.
But reacting via a statement, the group’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, maintained that “the group was formed on the principle of peace and would not compromise its principles, and would not also attack government facilities”.
“The attention of IPOB has been drawn to the fallacious and fabricated reports that it was involved in the attack of prison and police headquarters in Imo.
“IPOB and Eastern Security Network, ESN, are known groups, not unknown gunmen. ESN is in the bush chasing terrorists and has no business with the said attacks.
“We were not involved in the attack in Owerri and the recent attack on Onitsha-Owerri road at Ukwuorji junction. It is not our mandate to attack security personnel or prison facilities.”
He added that IPOB — which has been outlawed as a terrorist organisation — was “formed on the principle of peace and we are still in it.”
“Unknown gunmen is a different people which we don’t know them and they not IPOB or ESN security outfit,” Powerful said.
Meanwhile, IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu has reacted to the attack, saying nobody deserves to be in any Nigerian prison because killer herdsmen and Boko Haram insurgents get freed and rehabilitated.
