“Save my brothers in Biafra land,” IPOB member cries from hideout.
3 min read
Okoro Chimezie Kingsley, a member of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, has cried out that the lives of his fellow IPOB members in the Southeastern part of the country are in total jeopardy as the Nigerian security forces and other state actors have turned the entire Biafra land into a total nightmare and killing field due to the extrajudicial executions of the members of the group. Okoro who disclosed this to Umuaka Times from his hideout appealed to advocacy groups, European nations and other international human rights bodies and faith based institutions to let the world understand what the freedom fighters from Biafra land are facing in Nigeria.
Umuaka Times investigations show that Orlu, one of the worst hit cities in Imo State and entire Biafran land, has become a theatre of killings as many IPOB members from several towns in Orlu have fled their homes and their houses burnt by state security forces. Many of those who could not flee, Okoro disclosed, paid the supreme price.
According to Mr. Okoro, “In my presence, many IPOB members lost their lives to the DSS and the military. This is a permanent nightmare I will never get over with in my entire life. That is why I see my escape as a miracle. The day I escaped, I had to disguise myself as a pastor and took a narrow bushy path and escaped. Even that night, some IPOB members also lost their lives in Imo State.”
Umuaka Times investigations so far confirmed that indeed, many Biafran youths have so far been murdered under extra judicial circumstances. From a documented report by the global advocacy group, Amnesty International, as far back as 2016, more than 150 IPOB freedom fighters were shot dead by the security forces in the Southeastern part of Nigeria at different circumstances and parts of Biafran land.
Asked to narrate how he escaped to safety from Biafan land, stayed in hiding for some reasonable time without being noticed or abducted by the security forces, Okoro refused to say anything about his escape because according to him, he would not like to expose the secret to the Nigerian state actors. Okoro lamented that the most provocative aspect of the killings going on in Biafran land remains that the IPOB members who the trigger-happy officers murder often are totally unarmed. “They open fire at almost every gathering in Biafran land, including churches and village meetings. The defenceless IPOB members are most of the times, armed with a mere Biafran flag.”
The embattled Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma sometime in 2021, exonerated IPOB as being responsible for the violence in the state and went further to blame aggrieved politicians in the state as the masterminds behind the escalating killings of IPOB members in his state.
Perhaps Mr. Okoro is not the only IPOB member who has run to safety outside Biafran land. Umuaka Times gathered that some IPOB members who were able to secure travel documents and gathered some funds found themselves outside Nigeria as refugees and more. Those who cannot afford this option faced death. In May 2022, Premium Times newspaper reported that six members of IPOB were shot dead at close range in Imo State extra judicially in an alleged attempt to burn down the palace of a royal father.
Umuaka Times findings showed that on 17 July 2022, seven IPOB members were shot dead in a community known as Awomamma, Oru East Local Government Area of Orlu in Imo State. No justifiable reason was given for these senseless killings by some state actors.
When asked by Umuaka Times to give his message to his fellow IPOB members, Okoro said, “IPOB is a totally a harmless group that seeks the total independence of Biafra land from Nigeria. We are not violent. My advice to my fellow IPOB members is that they should be careful and continue to be peaceful while carrying out the clamour for Biafran independence. “One day, Nigeria Government must answer for all these crimes against humanity it has been committing against the innocent members of IPOB.”
