ESN operatives don't kidnap nor demand ransom-IPOB
By Chinwe Nwacha, Onitsha
Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), disclosed Friday that its security operatives, Eastern Security Network, ESN, neither kidnaps nor demands for ransom in its operation to ensure the security of lives and property of the Igbo race.
The movement made this disclosure through her image maker Emma Powerful, while reacting to a statement credited to faceless Taraba indigenes accusing ESN of killing three and holding nine persons hostage and demanding ransom of N20 milion.
According to Emma Powerful, "IPOB wish that the so-called Taraba indigenes will publicly make a video of themselves so that Biafrans and the world will see those who sponsor terrorists with weapons and charms into the holy land of Biafra.
"On June 13th, 2024, the public especially Biafrans were alarmed over the viral videos of the foreign and local Fulani terrorists in Biafra Land with various charms and weapons in the middle of the night who were intercepted by the gallant ESN Operatives. These Fulani terrorists confessed that they were sent to camp in a certain location in Biafra Land. They confessed that some of the terrorists are already on the ground in Biafra land while others will also arrive soon.
,"Their mission is to destabilize Biafra land. After ESN Operatives interrogated the terrorists, they were given appropriate treatment that they deserved and were dislodged from carrying out their attack in Biafra Land. The so-called Taraba indigenes should look for their terrorists brothers in one of the forests in the North. They have been dislodged from Biafra Land and sent back where they came from. The terrorists are not in the custody of ESN.
"The purported news that some Taraba indigenes said that ESN killed three of their brothers and demanded N20 million ransom to release the remaining nine is false. The so-called Taraba indigenes claimed that the men that ESN intercepted in the middle of the night of June 12th, 2024, were fishermen.
"Questions begging for answers include, What are those fishermen doing in the night inside Biafra bushes? What are the fishermen doing with charms and weapons?
Which river or ocean in Biafra Land are the fishermen coming to fish in?
"If the so-called Taraba indigenes are in contact with anyone demanding N20 million to release their terrorists brothers, they can deal with them and showing evidence but keep ESN out of their terrorism and kidnapping business.
"ESN does not kidnap nor demand ransom. ESN are trained and disciplined vigilante group with mandates to dislodge marauding Fulani terrorists from the Biafra territory," the image maker stated.
According to IPOB it is interesting to note that those who claimed that the intercepted and dislodged foreign and local Fulani terrorists are their brothers and advised them to go on national television and tell the world the mission of their brothers in the Biafran Land with weapons and charms in the middle of the night.
" Biafrans and the world will be happy to identify those sponsoring terrorists to destabilize Biafra Land. It is sad that Nigeria is the only country where terrorists are protected, shielded, and defended. That is why terrorism and banditry are lucrative businesses for the Fulanis, according to the viral video of a Fulani wife who said that they have money to shop now that her husband is in banditry business. They are no longer selling (fura dunano) cow milk because their husbands have found a lucrative business called kidnapping," she was quoted to have said
The movement reiterated that ESN operatives are in all nooks and crannies watching over Biafra land. warning that np amount of blackmail will deter them as they are under oath to ensure that the marauding terrorists are dislodged from Biafra Land for the peace and security of lives and properties of Biafrans.