… they shot at us, says Police PRO
… we don’t bear arms, says IPOB
The Enugu Police Command last night confirmed death of two IPOB members and arrest of five others in an early morning confrontation at Emene, Enugu yesterday, 23 August 2020.
IPOB – short for Indigenous Peoples of Biafra – is a proscribed separatist organisation pressing the goverment of Nigeria to grant independence to the area formerly administered by the defunct Republic of Biafra.
The group had claimed in a statement yesterday that 21 of its members were killed while the police took another 47 into custody.
In its defence last night, the Command said it successfully rescued one of the DSS operatives “who were at (Emene) to disperse the hoodlums from their unlawful assembly.”
Police spokesperson, Daniel Ndukwe, an assistant superintendent, also said two other DSS operatives “were found lifeless in the scene and (were) later confirmed dead.”
Giving the Force’s version of what happened, the spokesperson said Enugu State Commissioner of Police was tipped off that 500 IPOB youth went on “rampage, blocking and burning tyres on the road, after abducting Operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS).”
In the statement posted on Facebook, Ndukwe, said IPOB boys were killed in a gun duel with a reinforcement of Police and DSS operatives drafted to the scene on a rescue mission.
The spokesperson said the rescue team did the damage on arrival after being greeted with “serious gunfire attacks by the hoodlums.”
“They responded and in the ensuing gun duel, two of the hoodlums were gunned down, while some of them escaped with bullets wounds.”
Unanswered question
When the two statements from IPOB and the police command are put together, the following facts become evident:
- The Enugu Police Command was not an original party to the dispute; it was merely responding to a distress call from the DSS whose operatives felt endangered when they went to disperse an IPOB meeting.
- At least two IPOB boys were killed during the confrontation while five others were arrested by the Police. IPOB however claims 21 were killed while Police took 47 into custody.
- Police claim that two DSS operatives were killed while one was rescued is being disputed. IPOB rejects the accusation because, as a spokesperson put it, members of IPOB do not bear arms.
- The unanswered question is how the original DSS – IPOB encounter resulted into a violent confrontation that put lives of DSS operatives in danger.
The Department has yet to issue a statement on the incident as at the time of filing this report – which would have shed further light on the question.
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