IPOB has claimed that the locations bombed in Anambra and Imo by NAF are not their camps.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the Indigenous People of Biafra have debunked claims by the Nigerian Air Force of bombing their camps and Eastern Security Network at Orsumohu and Nnewi South LGA of Anambra State and Osuihiteukwa in Orsu LGA, Imo State.
This Nigeria News platform understands that the pro-Biafran group said ESN does not have camps in any of the bombed locations, insisting that the military lied in their claims because the locations mentioned were occupied by innocent civilians.
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This is just as they condemned all forms of military attacks in the South-East, adding that the North, where there are bandits and terrorists, is free from any form of military bombardment.
Their reactions were contained in a press statement issued by the group’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, on Thursday.
It said, “The global family of IPOB under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu debunk the claims by the Nigerian Air Force of bombing IPOB’s ESN camps at Orsumohu and Nnewi South LGA of Anambra State and Osuihiteukwa in Orsu LGA, Imo State.
“We are bold to say that ESN does not have camps in any of the bombed locations.
“However, as much as we detest the criminals impersonating IPOB and ESN in their violent activities in the name of Biafra struggle, we nevertheless condemn the bombing of any part of Biafra Land by the Nigeria Air Force.
“If the Nigeria Air Force has functioning fighter jets to bomb criminal hideouts in the rainforest of the South-East, why then have they not bombed terrorists and bandits who are in the open in the desert lands of the North?
“Some communities in the Northern region are under the control of Boko Haram, ISWAP terrorists, and bandits. They are moving freely, abducting school children and farmers, while their state governors and the Federal Government of Nigeria are negotiating with them.
“But in the South-East, because of ethnic bigotry and hatred of the Federal Government, the Nigeria Air Force is boasting of bombing the criminal hideouts. We totally condemn this bombing and destruction of our land.
“The Federal Government negotiates and pays ransom to terrorists and bandits in the North, and the terrorists and bandits, in turn, use the money to acquire more assault rifles and other sophisticated weapons to continue their terror activities.
“ESN operatives are intact and waiting for the last whistle for Biafra freedom. We are focused on the restoration of Biafra and not on killing our people in Biafraland. Biafrans are fully aware that those kidnapping and snatching cars are neither IPOB members nor ESN operatives.
The group further asked the Nigeria Air Force to stop lying and blackmailing IPOB with the so-called bombing of IPOB’s ESN camps, adding that IPOB doesn’t operate camps in any locations.
“For the benefit of doubt, Biafra does not have an army, and there is nothing called Biafran Liberation Army in Biafra land or in diaspora. What we have are vigilante outfits and the Eastern Security Network. ESN has a mandate to go after terrorists masquerading as herdsmen in our bushes and forests raping our mothers, sisters, and wives and destroying our farmlands in the East.
“The criminals operating in military camouflage parading themselves as Biafra Liberation Army are sponsored agents of the Nigeria government, not ESN operatives at all. We are not criminals nor terrorists otherwise civilised countries would not give us the freedom to gather in their countries.
“The Nigeria Air Force must call those criminal camps they bombed by their names and not mention ESN or IPOB. Meanwhile, Air Force bombing of any camp in Biafra Land while negotiating and funding terrorists in the North is the promotion of the same ethnic cleansing agenda against Biafrans and the Biafran nation.
“We are not going to retreat nor surrender until the Independent State of Biafra is restored,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has berated the Nigerian Air Force over the bombing of camps allegedly belonging to IPOB’s fighters – the Eastern Security Network (ESN) in Anambra and Imo states.
Ejimakor on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday said that the bombing and ongoing military operations in the Southeast were levied on innocent people under the guise of fighting criminality in the region.
The lawyer said that such ethnic cleansing was propelled by lack of compatriot spirit among security forces that are primed to see a certain ethnic group in the country as a threat.
He wrote, “Ethnic-cleansing is often propelled by lack of compatriot spirit amongst security forces that are primed to see a certain ethnicity as a threat.
“The ongoing military operations (or reprisals) in Southeast are often levied on innocents under the guise of fighting criminality. Yes!”
