The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has refuted allegations that its security arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), is involved in kidnapping and ransom demands.
IPOB denied claims made by a group in Taraba State that ESN operatives kidnapped individuals and demanded a ransom of N20 million, stating that these accusations are entirely false.
A statement by Emma Powerful, the spokesman of IPOB, reads: “On June 13th, 2024, the public, especially Biafrans, were alarmed over the viral videos of the foreign and local Fulani terrorists in Biafraland with various charms and weapons in the middle of the night who were intercepted by the gallant ESN operatives.
“These Fulani terrorists confessed that they were sent to camp in a certain location in Biafraland. They confessed that some of the terrorists are already on ground in Biafraland while others will also arrive soon.
“Their mission is to destabilize Biafraland. After ESN Operatives interrogated the terrorists, they were given the appropriate treatment that they deserved and were dislodged from carrying out their attack in Biafraland.
“The so-called Taraba indigenes should look for their terrorist brothers in one of the forests in the North. They have been dislodged from Biafraland and sent back where they came from. The terrorists are not in the custody of ESN.
“The purported news that some Taraba indigenes said that ESN killed three of their brothers and demanded N20 million ransom to release the remaining nine is false. The so-called Taraba indigenes claimed that the men that ESN intercepted in the middle of the night of June 12th, 2024, were fishermen.”
Powerful described ESN operatives as well-trained and disciplined vigilantes with mandates to dislodge marauding Fulani terrorists from the Biafra territory.
