President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime on Wednesday claimed that the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has a stockpile of bombs and different weapons all over Nigeria.
In a statement signed by Presidential Media aide, Garba Shehu, the regime blasted Amnesty International for defending pro-secession groups in Nigeria.
Amnesty International had called on the Nigerian government to urgently address the heinous crimes of enforced disappearances, to comply with Nigeria’s international law obligations.
The organisation said Nigerian security forces’ attempts to clamp down on Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) militants have led to arbitrary arrests, detentions, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in the South east and Niger Delta area of Nigeria.
“The whereabouts of at least 50 suspected members of IPOB arrested in Oyigbo, Rivers state are still unknown since their arrest in October and November 2020,” it said.
“The unresolved enforced disappearances of several activists underscore the need for action. Abubakar Idris also known as Dadiyata, a vocal government critic and university lecturer was abducted in his home in Kaduna on 2 August 2019 and has not been seen since. The government has denied holding him.
“Fifteen years-old Emmanuel John was arrested by soldiers when they raided a synagogue at Oyigbo in Rivers state on October 2020 in search of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). His family members have searched for him without success. His whereabouts remain unknown.
“Another victim Felix Adika (44) was last seen on 27 February 2016 after he was arrested by the DSS in Bayelsa. At the time Felix had been working with other former militants in the Niger delta region to access government amnesty payments. He was asked to go back and bring other former militants but was arrested instead.
“In March 2019 his family learned he was in DSS detention and travelled to see him. They were asked to write an application but never saw him. His wife also lost a five-month pregnancy after his arrest.
“In a similar case of enforced disappearance, Izuchukwu Okeke, 41-year-old Commercial Motorcycle rider was last seen on 5 July 2021 when he visited a police station in Owerri, Imo state.
“He was earlier arrested on June 17 2021 and released after being detained for two weeks. He was lured back to the station and rearrested after the police accused him of informing the relatives of other detainees about the whereabouts of their sons. The police warned his relatives that they will be shot if they ever come for his bail. Since then his whereabouts remain unknown”.
The non-governmental agency noted that cases of at least 200 people – including former militants from Niger Delta, members of IPOB, #EndSARS protesters and security suspects believed to have been subjected to unresolved enforced disappearances in Nigeria have been documented by Amnesty International – The real number is believed to be higher.
“Nigerian security forces often sight the anti-terror law introduced in that allows the authorities to hold people without charge or trial in unofficial places of detention, often without contact to the outside world in practice, clearly increase the risk of people disappearing after being detained”.
But the regime described IPOB as a ‘proscribed terrorist organization’ that kills police officers and burns down government property.
“IPOB murder Nigerian citizens. They kill police officers and military personnel and set government property on fire.”
“Now, they have amassed a substantial stockpile of weapons and bombs across the country. Were this group in a western country, you would not expect to hear Amnesty’s full-throated defence of their actions.”
“Instead, there would be silence or mealy-mouthed justification of western governments’ action to check the spread of “terrorism.”
