Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Thursday reacted to the arrest of Eastern Security Network, ESN, Deputy Commander.
Kanu said the man arrested by the Nigerian Army was too old to be recruited into the ESN.
Awurum’s arrest was disclosed by the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, on Wednesday night.
The IPOB leader, however, described reports of the alleged arrest by the Nigerian Army as false.
Kanu in a statement by IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, said Awurum was handed over to the Nigerian forces as an ESN Commander after a misunderstanding with a traditional ruler.
By Kingsley Nwezeh
Security forces yesterday said they had arrested Mr. Awurum Eze, an alleged second-in- command to late Ikonso, the executed leader of the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
He was arrested in Aba, Abia State.
A statement signed by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Mohammed Yerima, said the 48-year-old Awurum Eze, a native of Umoneke Nta, Isiala-Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, had, on May 4, 2021, escaped when operatives of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) stormed his village house in Isiala Mbano where he was hiding.
It said intensive manhunt was thereafter launched towards tracing and arresting him.
“He was eventually apprehended on Wednesday, May 12, 2022, in Aba after weeks of unrelenting follow-ups by operatives.
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
Founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has berated the Nigerian Army for claiming to have arrested a deputy commander of his Eastern Security Network.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, had on May 12, 2021, announced that the force arrested one Awurum Eze, a native of Umoneke Nta, Isiala-Mbano LGA, Imo State.
Yerima described the 48-year-old suspect as the second in command to ESN leader, Ikonso, who was recently neutralised by the army.
In a statement, he said Eze “had on the 4th of May 2021 escaped when operatives of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) stormed his village house in Isiala Mbano where he was hiding.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has refuted the story that one Awurum Eze arrested in Aba recently and said to be IPOB second in command is a member of Eastern Security Network (ESN).
In a press statement signed by the media and publicity Secretary of the group comrade Emma Powerful, IPOB said the said Ewurum Eze is too old to be ESN Operative.
It described the claim as “cheap propaganda and false claims to imaginary military prowess”.
Part of release read: “The said man is not an operative of ESN. Such a man is too old to be recruited into ESN let alone being Ikonso’s Second in Command.
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Segun Adewole
Published 13 May 2021
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the Nigerian Army for claiming to have arrested a deputy commander of his Eastern Security Network.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, had on May 12, 2021, announced that the force arrested one Awurum Eze, a native of Umoneke Nta, Isiala-Mbano LGA, Imo State.
Yerima described the 48-year-old suspect as the second in command to ESN leader, Ikonso, who was recently neutralised by the army.
In a statement, he said Eze “had on the 4th of May 2021 escaped when operatives of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) stormed his village house in Isiala Mbano where he was hiding.