Security Alert in South-East, South-South over Fresh IPOB Threat
Security agencies are on the alert in the South-east and parts of the South-south following what sources call increasing secession threat in the two areas, The Nation gathered last night.
The Abia State Government confirmed yesterday that it had uncovered plots by yet to be identified hoodlums to carry out an attack in the state.
Intelligence sources in Abuja suspect the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of engineering the rebellion with a secessionist group in Southern Cameroon as an ally.
The Cameroonian group is fighting for Ambazonia Republic.
IPOB itself yesterday accused the South-east governors, Ohaneze Ndigbo and some traditional rulers in the zone of compiling the names of those they perceive as dissidents for arrest and incarceration by the Federal Government.
Top sources said in Abuja that the recent wave of violent attacks on security buildings and personnel in the South-east and parts of the South-south was part of the build-up to the secession.
It was gathered that the weapons seized during the violent attacks were being amassed in preparation for an imminent declaration of separation from Nigeria by IPOB and its Cameroonian ally.
One of the sources said the collaboration between IPOB and its ally explained the increase in attacks against security agents in the Akwa Ibom and Cross River State axis, especially in Bakassi area, which serves as an access to the southern part of Cameroon on water.
It was gathered that the reason for the increased attacks along these areas was to whittle down security presence on the Nigerian side to enable IPOB move arms and allow its fighters travel more freely.
The intelligence community projects an increase in the spate of attacks in both geo-political zones.
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The sources revealed that within the past week, about 100 members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the combatant wing of IPOB, had moved to Cameroon to acquire training in arms handling.
A second batch, it was gathered, is getting ready to be dispatched soon also.
Another source said the narrative of Fulani herdsmen attacks in the Southeast was invented to distract attention from the real situation in the zone.
The source dismissed allegation by IPOB that the Department of State Security (DSS) was plotting to attack banks and blame it on its members as untrue, ridiculous, childish and illogical.
Spokesman of IPOB, Emma Powerful, had said the plot was meant to tarnish the image of the group’s militant wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN), before the world.
On Thursday, IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu said the ESN had no plans to attack banks in the Southeast.
He denied the claim that the money to be realised from the operation would be used to purchase arms. He said they (IPOB) did not need the money as they could produce their own arms.
Shortly after the denial, a bank was attacked in Abagana in Anambra State by unknown gunmen, who hoisted Biafra flags.
Sources said the group’s mode of operation is to raise false alarm and carry out such attacks in a bid to blackmail security agencies.
“It is not true and it cannot be true. So what they have done is that hours after they issued that alarm, they attacked a bank in Abagana, Dunukofia LGA, Anambra State,” one of the sources said.
Continuing, the source said: “If they are peaceful as they try to portray themselves, why the need for weapons?
“You claim you are non-violent, yet you admit you are making weapons. What are the weapons for?
“Their main aim in all these attacks is to get secession, working with a group fighting for Ambazonia Republic in the Republic of Cameroon.
“The narrative of the Fulani herdsmen is meant to serve as a distraction from the major issue. What is actually happening is a secessionist fight that is building. The Fulani issue is just a fringe issue.
“You can see the recent upsurge in the attacks against security agents in the South East and along the Cross
