By Steve Oko

• Demands independent probe, says Nigeria running from truth

UMUAHIA — The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has dismissed the Nigerian Army’s reported raid on suspected Eastern Security Network (ESN) camps in Anambra State as propaganda, demanding an independent investigation into the operation.

IPOB also accused the Federal Government of using security operations and allegations against the group to divert attention from what it described as the unresolved Biafran question and legal issues surrounding its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

The Nigerian Army had said troops of the newly established 15 Brigade, under the Joint Task Force South-East, Operation UDO KA, in collaboration with operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Agunechemba Vigilante Group, raided three suspected IPOB/ESN camps in the Osuakwa area, along the Ihiala-Ogbaru axis of Anambra State, on Saturday, August 15.

According to the Army, the operation followed intelligence reports on the activities of suspected members of the group.

The military said three suspected IPOB/ESN members were killed after troops came under fire, while three others were arrested.

It also said troops recovered an FN rifle with 10 rounds of ammunition, a pump-action shotgun, 15 sticks of dynamite, four motorcycles, batteries, radio chargers and other items before dismantling the camps.

However, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, IPOB described the operation as an attempt to distract public attention from recent international discussions on Biafra and what it called “explosive legal issues” raised by Kanu in a letter to the President of the Court of Appeal.

“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’,” the group said.

IPOB challenged the Army to provide independently verifiable evidence of the alleged ESN camps, including the identities of those occupying the locations, details of the arrested suspects, ownership of the sites and any demonstrable link to IPOB or Kanu.

“The Nigerian state cannot continually substitute press conferences for evidence,” the group said.

It also questioned what it described as the military’s “selective obsession” with alleged ESN camps, arguing that armed criminals continued to attack rural communities and abduct residents across the South-East and other parts of the country.

IPOB said it did not support criminality but accused security agencies of exploiting insecurity in the region to demonise the organisation and divert attention from what it described as the “fundamental issues surrounding the Biafran question.”

The group further argued that Kanu did not need an ESN camp to make his case before the international community, maintaining that his legal arguments and the grievances of the Biafran people should be addressed through legitimate judicial and political processes.

According to IPOB, “Kanu does not need an ESN camp to make his case before the world.”

It urged international journalists, diplomats, human rights organisations and foreign governments to independently investigate military claims concerning IPOB and ESN rather than accepting official statements as established facts.

IPOB said an independent investigation would help establish the circumstances surrounding the reported raid, deaths and arrests.