IPOB reacts to DSS arraignment of five suspects over NYSC members’ abduction

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has expressed interest in the recent arraignment by the Department of State Services (DSS) of five suspects allegedly responsible for the abduction of prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members along the Owerri–Onitsha Expressway in Imo State.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by IPOB Spokesperson and Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, the group described the public parade and arraignment of the suspects — Usman Aliyu, Babangida Aliyu, Mohammed Ali, Aminu Haliru and Ibrahim Jiji — as symptomatic of what it called the alarming extent to which Fulani bandits and foreign criminal elements had infiltrated the forests, bushes and highways of Igboland.

The group urged the public to reflect on what might have happened if the kidnapping had occurred without the suspects being caught, asking who the Nigerian security apparatus and what it described as hostile media would have blamed.

It said: “It has been the pattern; the blame would have instinctively and falsely fallen on Biafra agitators and the Eastern Security Network (ESN). Innocent Igbo youths would have been rounded up, tagged ‘ESN terrorists’ and subjected to extrajudicial harm to cover up the true perpetrators.”

The spokesperson said the development had brought attention to those allegedly responsible for kidnappings, killings and what the group described as systemic insecurity plaguing the South-East.

The group thanked the Almighty God (Chukwu Okike Abiama) for what it described as the exposure of the suspects.

He said: “Had IPOB not promptly called for independent investigations and consistently maintained its innocence, enemies of the Biafran struggle would by now be peddling the false narrative that IPOB/ESN was behind this cowardly act.”

According to the group, the development confirmed its position that IPOB and ESN had no involvement in criminal activities in the region. It added that ESN was formed solely to defend farmers, mothers and the territorial integrity of the region against what it described as ruthless invaders.

He said: “We must also give credit where it is due: the DSS Director in Imo State and the prosecuting team deserve special mention for upholding professional integrity by not burying this incident or lazily attributing it to IPOB/ESN, as has regrettably been the norm in past security operations.”

IPOB demanded the disclosure of the suspects’ ethnicity, origins and full identities, adding that the details should be thoroughly investigated and made known to the international community to establish who the group described as criminal elements operating in the South-East were.

He said: “This incident validates the foresight of our leader, ONYENDU MAZI NNAMDI KANU, who established the Eastern Security Network (ESN) to safeguard our forests against these very threats. It is deeply unjust that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains incarcerated for daring to protect his homeland, while the security threats he warned against continue to escalate across Igboland.”

The group called on South-East governors and leaders to address the security situation, end what it described as their fixation on persecuting IPOB, and prioritise genuine security measures to protect lives and property across the region.