The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Monday declared that its vigilante arm, the Eastern Security Network, ESN, is not responsible for attacks on security formations across the South-East.
IPOB said contrary to widespread claims, it does not have any army that attacks security agencies and formations in the South-East.
The spokesman of the group, Emma Powerful, said ESN was established as an armed vigilante group to dislodge the Fulani terrorists masquerading as herders and not to confront the Nigerian security forces.
Parts of a statement by Powerful reads: “It’s a known fact that Fulani terrorists nicknamed herdsmen are a major threat to the indigenous people and communities in Nigeria. These marauding Fulanis are responsible for the mass murder of defenceless communities in Nigeria. They are responsible for the mass abductions and rape of women in Nigeria.
“Unfortunately, the Nigerian government and her Security Forces tacitly supported the atrocities of the Fulani terrorists by refusing to arrest and prosecute these Fulani mass murderers, rapists and kidnappers. In order to defend the defenseless Biafrans, the IPOB Leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in collaboration with IPOB family worldwide established the Eastern Security Network (ESN) in December 2020 as a child of necessity to checkmate the activities of Fulani terrorists nicknamed herdsmen in Biafraland.
“The mandate given to ESN Operatives was to curtail, dislodge, and remove terrorists maiming and destroying Biafran farms and farmers. The ESN Operatives have never deviated from their mandate of protecting Biafra bushes, forests, and people.
“On the other hand, IPOB as a movement remains non-violent and peaceful in all our activities since the formation of IPOB. Any day IPOB decides to move into armed struggle, the world will know, and the Nigerian government will know as well.
“ESN Operatives are not after the Nigerian Security Forces. We know that the Nigerian government sponsor and use criminal elements and members of their security agencies to commit criminal actions in Biafraland for the purposes of blackmailing IPOB in the global arena just like they did in the Owerri jailbreak and the most recent being the killing of mainly Igbo military personnel in Aba claiming that IPOB was responsible but we know that the objective of the murder of those soldiers on the most revered day in Biafran calendar was to present IPOB in bad light in eyes of our people and the world as well as to destabilise the developmental work being carried out in Abia State by the governor of the state.
“The Nigerian government knows those who take responsibility for crimes committed in Biafraland, and those people are neither IPOB nor ESN.
“Why does the Nigerian government ignore them and accuse ESN and IPOB of what they had no knowledge about? The answer is very simple because it accentuates their strategy which is to attribute every criminal act in Biafraland to the only genuine movement standing between them and their evil agenda to conquer our people and dispossess us of our ancestral land and heritage. These criminal groups and cells are State-created and sponsored, and they have no relationship whatsoever with either IPOB or ESN.
“Again, IPOB does not have an Army. We are simply a freedom-fighting movement. Therefore, when a bunch of criminals address themselves as an Army, how does that relate to IPOB?
“Any Biafran group that is not under the command and control of IPOB’s leadership, the Directorate of States (DOS) of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not part of IPOB’s global family.”
