The Imo State Police Command has declared one Kaine Precious Chukwuma alleged to be one of the top commanders of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in Orlu Area of the state wanted, over alleged attacks on law abiding citizens while enforcing sit-at- home order imposed by the separatist group.
IPOB had ordered that Monday of every week should be observed as sit-at-home in the South East region of Nigeria, as a measure to pressure the Federal Government for release of its leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu , following his alleged extraordinary rendition from Kenya.
Recall that the IPOB leader was arrested in Kenya in circumstances that many domestic and international diplomatic and legal experts perceived as calculated abduction and kidnapping, which contravened international laws and protocols.
In the wake of that alleged abduction the Kenyan government has continued to deny being complicit in the manner in which the IPOB Leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was allegedly abducted by the Nigerian government, but a lot of people have, however, continued to associate the Kenyan government with the perceived purported breach of International legal procedures in the arrest of Kanu in Kenya and, his subsequent bundling to Nigeria to face criminal trial.
In reaction to the alleged kidnapping of its leader IPOB members in the South-East Nigeria introduced a mandatory Monday sit-at-home order in the South-East states of Nigeria as a measure to force the Nigerian government to release him unconditionally.
The order which is seriously being enforced forbids markets and every other economic activity and movement of persons, goods and vehicles in the whole of the five states that make up South East of Nigeria on that day.
Expectedly, being the major operators of private businesses in Nigeria, the sit-at-home order has not only been biting hard on the economy of the region, but also that of the entire nation.
However, the governments of the states in the region and that of the federation have continued to caution members of the group against such action, warning that any individual or group caught flouting the established laws of the country will be made to face the full weight of the law.
It was gathered that it was in a bid to prevent enforcement of the order a fortnight ago, precisely on August 2, 2021, that the police clashed with suspected IPOB enforcers.
Sources told newsmen that no fewer than 17 persons were allegedly arrested that day in the heat of the violent clash between police and suspected IPOB operatives in the area, that is fast turning into the hotbed of IPOB activities.
Sources also said residents at Banana Junction in Orlu LGA where the clash occurred said they strongly suspected that some IPOB members may have been killed in the clash, as they claim seeing police operatives driving away after the incident with seem like dead bodies lying on the floor of their pick up vans.
However, it has not been possible to confirm the veracity or otherwise of the claim, as the police have not issued any statement about either neutralizing or arresting IPOB members, while IPOB itself has only said that it can’t account for dozens of its members in the wake of the incident.
The fear that people died in the face off coupled with alleged arrest of not less than 17 members during face off which took place a fortnight ago, has reportedly thrown many families in the area into panic, as they can’t say whether relations and residents whose whereabout have remained unknown in the aftermath of the clash were among those allegedly picked up by the police, or those suspected to have been mowed down.
Two weeks after that incident the Imo Police authorities have now issued a statement declaring one Kaine Precious Chukwuma, male, said to be in his early twenties wanted allegedly for being the sit-at- home enforcement commander in the Orlu Unit of IPOB.
Police allege that he led the enforcement exercise of that fateful Monday of August 2, 2021, that precipitated the clash during which it was alleged it arrested 17 IPOB members, while some others were feared gunned down.
It was learnt that IPOB in the area which previously only said that dozens of its members are missing, now seem to think that some of its members may actually be in police net, as it is being strongly suspected that they may have been tortured to divulge the information which police relied on to declare Kaine Precious Chukwuma wanted.
The commands spokesman who issued the statement, CSP Bala Elkanah, disclosed that he was wanted in connection with many alleged IPOB attacks on security agents and formations, as well as on ordinary citizens and their properties in Orlu area of the state.
According to him, Kaine Precious Chukwuma is in his early twenties, dark, tall and speaks Igbo and English Languages fluently, even as he added that he was last seen on Monday August 2, 2021.
He urged members of the public with useful information that could help in his arrest to go to the nearest police formation in the state to provide the information.
NIGERIA NEWSPOINT
