South-East: Unknown gunmen are not IPOB members — Ezeife
Former Anambra governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife says the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its Eastern Security Network (ESN) are not behind the violent attacks in the South-East.
There have been several attacks on police stations, prisons and the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the region.
Security operatives and residents have been killed, and in a recent development, Ahmed Gulak, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, was murdered in Imo on May 30.
Speaking when he featured on Arise TV on Wednesday, Ezeife said investigation carried out by elders in the South-East revealed that such attacks are designed to provoke Igbo people.
While noting that killing and destruction do not conform to the Igbo character, he said some of the attacks may have been carried out by people outside the region.
He said:
“Anybody who hears the story will be mad at the story. But who are the people who are burning INEC offices? Who are killing the police?
“There is the impression that some people, maybe even in the government, are guilty of organising such things and blaming it on IPOB and ESN.
“Efforts have been made by our elders of our people to find out the truth and the hands of IPOB and ESN are not there.
“I am sure you know that at Owerri prison, there was a lot of devastation and the IG of police blamed it immediately on IPOB and ESN.
“Even the governor of that state at the beginning thought it was the IPOB and ESN, but now we know that more than 80 percent of people caught by the CCTV footage are not from the south-east or even the east at all.
“Now, Gulak is dead. Was it a design again to blow it on IPOB and the ESN? We are learning more now that there is a design to provoke the east. Igbo do not have the tradition of shedding blood or burning down things.”
