IPOB Accuses Nigerian Army Of Staging ‘Fake’ ESN Camp Raids To Divert Attention From Nnamdi Kanu | Sahara Reporters

The Army claimed that its troops came under hostile fire during the operation and subsequently “neutralised” three suspected IPOB/ESN members while overrunning and destroying the three camps.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the Nigerian Army of staging “fake” raids on alleged camps of the Eastern Security Network (ESN) to divert public attention from the legal battle of its imprisoned leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

IPOB made the allegation in a statement issued on Sunday, by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, in response to the Nigerian Army’s announcement that its troops raided three alleged IPOB/ESN camps in Anambra State on Saturday, killing three suspected members, arresting three others and recovering explosives, rifles, and ammunition.

The Army said the operation was carried out on Saturday, August 15, by troops of the newly established 15 Brigade under Joint Task Force South East, Operation UDO KA, alongside personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS) and members of the Agunechemba Vigilante Group.

According to the military, the operation targeted alleged IPOB/ESN camps at Osuakwa, along the boundary between Ihiala and Ogbaru Local Government Areas of Anambra State, following intelligence on the activities of suspected members of the group.

The Army claimed that its troops came under hostile fire during the operation and subsequently “neutralised” three suspected IPOB/ESN members while overrunning and destroying the three camps.

The military also said it recovered an FN rifle loaded with 10 rounds of 7.62mm NATO ammunition, a pump-action shotgun with five cartridges and 15 sticks of dynamite, alongside four motorcycles, a gas cylinder, batteries and radio chargers.

It further announced the arrest of three suspects, including a man identified as Chijioke, another male suspect and a female suspect, who the Army said were found in the company of six children.

However, IPOB dismissed the military’s account, describing the latest operation as part of what it called a “manufactured media frenzy” designed to divert attention from the Biafran question and Kanu’s ongoing legal battle.

“There are two immediate developments that Nigerians and the international community must place side by side with this latest propaganda,” IPOB said.

According to the group, one of the developments was renewed international discussion of Biafra, including a recent programme on Israel’s Channel 14 that reportedly touched on the Biafran question and alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

“Rather than confront the substance of that international discussion, the Nigerian propaganda machinery has apparently chosen its familiar diversion: invent another ESN-camp story and flood the media with photographs and sensational claims,” IPOB alleged.

IPOB also claimed that the Nigerian establishment was uncomfortable with legal issues raised by Kanu in a letter addressed to the President of the Court of Appeal.

“The Nigerian establishment is acutely uncomfortable with the explosive legal issues raised by Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in his letter to the President of the Court of Appeal,” the group said.

“Instead of confronting those issues openly and allowing the judicial process to take its course, the authorities appear determined to manufacture another security narrative capable of dominating the news cycle.”

IPOB alleged that the government had repeatedly used similar tactics whenever its narrative concerning the Biafra agitation came under pressure.

“Whenever the Nigerian state and its collaborators in the South-East find their narrative collapsing, suddenly an alleged ESN camp is ‘discovered,’” the group claimed.

It further alleged that ordinary items recovered during such operations were often presented as evidence of a sophisticated criminal network.

“Motorbikes, generators, telephones and other ordinary objects are photographed, arranged dramatically and presented to the public as evidence of some sinister operation,” IPOB said.

The group challenged the Nigerian Army to provide independently verifiable evidence if it genuinely discovered an ESN camp.

“If the Nigerian military has genuinely discovered an ESN camp, let it provide independently verifiable evidence, identify the occupants, produce arrested suspects, establish ownership of the location and demonstrate the evidential connection between the alleged camp and IPOB or Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” it said.

“The Nigerian state cannot continually substitute press conferences for evidence.”

IPOB also questioned the military’s ability to locate alleged ESN camps while other armed criminals continue to operate across the country.

“How does a military that repeatedly claims to locate ESN camps with remarkable precision struggle to locate the armed criminals terrorising rural communities and kidnapping innocent citizens?” the group asked.

It said residents of the South-East had repeatedly complained about insecurity, including attacks on farmers and rural communities.

“Yet the military’s spectacular successes against alleged ESN camps somehow receive immediate publicity, while Nigerians continue demanding answers about other armed groups operating across the country,” IPOB said.

The group argued that what it described as the government’s focus on alleged ESN camps exposed the “political character” of its security messaging.

IPOB, however, said it did not support criminality and maintained that all criminal groups should be confronted regardless of their ethnic identity or political affiliation.

“IPOB has never claimed that criminality should be tolerated. Every criminal organisation should be confronted, irrespective of its ethnic identity or political affiliation,” the group said.

“But the Nigerian security establishment must stop using the legitimate security concerns of our people as a convenient instrument for demonising IPOB and distracting the world from the fundamental issues surrounding the Biafran question.”

The group further maintained that Kanu did not require an alleged ESN camp to advance his case before the international community.

“Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu does not need an ESN camp to make his case before the world. His legal arguments, his record and the grievances of the Biafran people speak for themselves,” IPOB said.

IPOB challenged the government to address Kanu’s legal arguments in court rather than through what it described as media distractions.

“If the authorities believe that the issues contained in his letter to the President of the Court of Appeal are empty, they should confront them through the courts,” the group said.

“If they believe the international discussion about Biafra is baseless, they should address the substance rather than manufacture distractions.”

IPOB also called on international journalists, diplomats, human rights organisations and foreign governments to independently scrutinise military claims concerning alleged ESN camps.

The group accused the Nigerian government of repeatedly deploying propaganda because it allegedly fears growing international attention to the Biafra question.

“The Nigerian propaganda machinery has deployed this tactic repeatedly because it fears the issues it is trying to bury,” IPOB said.

“But this time, the world is watching. You cannot bury Biafra with propaganda. You cannot silence Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu with manufactured headlines. And you cannot run forever from the truth by repeatedly shouting ‘ESN camp.’”