Anambra police charge 33 men said to be Ipob members with the murder of inspector over the weekend

MEN of the Anambra Police Command have paraded 33 members of the secessionist group the Indigenous people of Biafra (Ipob) in Akwa accusing them of killing an inspector during a protest over the weekend.

According to the Nigerian Police Force spokesmen Jimoh Moshood, the inspector-general of police Ibrahim Idris, has also asked for the urgent recovery of two AK47 riffles and a Berretta piston allegedly snatched from the slain officer. he also directed the Anambra State Police Command to apprehend the other members of Ipob involved in the murder who managed to flee the scene.

Mr Jimoh said: “On 23rd November, 2018, there was intelligence report that members of the proscribed Ipob, an unlawful terrorist organisation were sighted gathering in their hundreds with dangerous weapons near Teaching Hospital, Owerri Road, Nnewi, about to cause a disturbance of public peace and public safety in Nnewi and its environs. Consequently, police patrol teams led by the area commander of Nnewi, Assistant Commissioner of Police Nnanna Oji Ama mobilised to the scene to prevent them from causing a breakdown of law and order and mayhem and the destruction of lives and property.

“The police team, while proceeding to the scene came under ambush from the Ipob members and in the process, a police inspector was killed, two other police officers were seriously injured and one police patrol vehicle was set ablaze. Also, the proscribed Ipob members snatched and carted away two AK47 rifles and one Beretta Pistol with ammunition.”

He added that the arrested suspects, aged between 17 and 65 years from states across the southeast and Delta State, were accused of engaging in terrorism, despite the proscription of the group last year. However, the suspects said they were mostly traders in Nnewi market who had finished their business for the day and were about to close shop before they were arrested long after the protesting Ipob members had left.

One of the suspects, Evangelist Sunday Ilonze said he and his servant were arrested in his shop while trying to close for the day. He added: “I came back from a burial and didn’t even know what had happened during the day and was ordered by some gun-wielding police officers to go into the vehicle but I refused because I am a law abiding citizen but they brought me here.”

Most of the suspects cried all through the parade, insisting that they were innocent and should not be allowed to suffer for a crime they did not commit. Mr Moshood, however, assured that a thorough investigation would be launched into the matter and those found guilty would be charged with terrorism offences.