Amnesty International Report Blames Nigerian Army. Police Others Of South-East Insecurity As Residents Reveals Real Culprits

Amnesty International Report Blames Nigerian Army. Police Others Of South-East Insecurity As Residents Reveals Real Culprits  The latest exc...

Amnesty International Report Blames Nigerian Army. Police Others Of South-East Insecurity As Residents Reveals Real Culprits 

The latest exclusive report released by Amnesty International regarding the causes and consequences of the insecurity that has plagued the South-East region over the last four years has uncovered the true architects and offenders behind the criminal activities that have been largely linked to Biafra agitation.

The report titled, "A Decade Of Impunity," the report focuses on the oppressive policies and aggressive stance of the previous Buhari administration towards the South-East, highlighting how thousands of innocent civilians and residents have suffered due to the government's attempts to quell dissent related to self-determination.

Moreover, in light of state-sponsored propaganda that has escalated since Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the IPOB movement, established a security outfit known as the Eastern Security Network, aimed at addressing the violent actions of Fulani terror herdsmen in the Eastern region, and following his abduction and extraordinary rendition from Kenya, the Nigerian government and its security forces have persistently attributed all instances of insecurity and criminality in the South-East to IPOB/ESN.

Despite this, IPOB has continually denied any involvement in the insecurity, asserting that the federal government is orchestrating conflict through proxies to misrepresent IPOB/ESN and tarnish the legitimate cause for Biafra's self-determination.

So, Amnesty International in the event of its investigations allured engagements of high and low personalities, ranging from security analyst, legal experts, active members of both the IPOB movement and ESN security outfit as well as ordinary citizens. 

According to the security analyst whose opinion was encoded in the report, the ESN was borne out of necessity to curb escalating terrorism from the Fulani herdsmen in the region as the South-East political elites and federal government, security agencies were powerless to take a decisive measure to combat the menace. He also revealed that the South-East governors created a parallel group in the region after the formation of ESN, tasked to fight the ESN. That act according to him, contributed immensely the deterioration of security  in the region.

"ESN was set up by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for the purpose of securing the lives and properties of people. That was when the Fulani herdsmen were on rampage, killing people in the farms and the governors were not doing anything about it. People were being slaughtered like animals on various farms across the South-East. 

That was why Nnamdi Kanu set up ESN to contain the activities of the criminals. At that point, this effectively worked." 

"He Nnamdi Kanu formed the ESN in 2020 to defend and protect the lives and property of our people. The South-East governors created a parallel security outfit (Ebube Agu) so that they will be hunting ESN. ESN members are youths who volunteered to pursue the herders from our bushes and farmlands", he said.

Amnesty International also reportedly interviewed an ESN operative who firmly denied involvement of his group in the insecurities, stating that their aim is to protect the people in the farmlands and bushes against the Fulani herdsmen and according to him the ESN is not armed rather uses orthodox methods to confront the Fulani terrorists.

"I am an ESN member. We do not have a single weapon and there is no place you can point out a weapon belonging to ESN. It is [the state-backed] Ebube Agu [security outfit] that is killing our youths." 

"The ESN are not killing anyone, rather we are inside bushes, and we pursue all the Fulani who are killing our fathers and mothers and raping our women. [We] do not have any weapon, [we] carry sand and pursue them, and the gods of the land will protect us, and nothing will happen."

Another resident named Obioma who was interviewed claimed that the ESN has done a profound job in combating the herdsmen and he doesn't agree that the ESN was responsible for the insecurity in the South-East region. According to him, the herdsmen would always run away when they receive information that the ESN was coming to their camps or hideouts in the bushes of any comments across the region.

"It [ESN] was formed by Biafran activists because people were dying. Their target was to go into the forest and confront Fulani herdsmen.

They are doing a marvellous job. Wherever the Fulani herdsmen hear that ESN operatives were coming, they run. The ESN is an extension of IPOB. They do not attack people. They attack Fulani herdsmen in Igbo forests",Obioma argued.

Another resident in Enugu called Ekwe also had this to say about the issue;

"When abductors took some people in my community, the community called the police. For three days, there was no response. They called the ESN, and immediately the ESN responded."

Amnesty International also interviewed a member of the IPOB movement resident in Enugu who also corroborated the assertions of the ESN operative, asserting that neither the IPOB movement nor the Eastern Security Network was involved in the insecurities that has bedeviled the region, instead criminals who are mostly sponsored by the state were tasked to take advantage of the agitation for Biafra and commit crimes.

"There is serious propaganda against ESN. The state governors in Igboland [the South-East] sponsor men and give them weapons, give them Biafra flags, and give them uniforms. So that they can go and commit crimes and say these are ESN people, these are Biafran peo-ple. That is the truth. I can never lie to you. Even the past governors and the new ones now, they are the ones that recruit [these] men." 

Also, a lawyer who was also interviewed and apparently in contact with the IPOB leader argued and decried the continued incarceration of the IPOB leader even after his release had been ordered by the appeal court was one of the prime factor behind the usage of Biafra agitation by criminals as smokescreen to commit crimes. 

"The arrest and continued incarceration of Mazi Namdi Kanu against the orders of the Court of Appeal has continued to give room for criminals to act in the manner they want to; criminals that have no relationship or no connection with IPOB. 

But now, the state security agents call every criminal group operating in the South-East IPOB members when they know really that these people have no connection with IPOB." 

IPOB is struggling day and night to tell you that these people are not part of the project; that these people are not part of IPOB I have released statements, relying on my discussion and briefs from namdi Kanu, to tell the world his position about this."

"IPOB has several times in their publications distanced the ESN from the activities of criminals who operate in the South-East." 

"If we are to go by the objective for which ESN is set up, I can completely agree with IPOB that ESN is not part of those who are causing confusion." 

"Because IPOB is there to checkmate ESN's activities and if they are going against the set-out objectives, they know how to go about sanctioning them." he assured.

Family Writers Press International