New Telegraph

Orlu crisis: Soldiers won’t be withdrawn until sanity is restored, says Uzodinma

Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, has said his administration would not yield to pressure to withdraw soldiers from some flashpoint areas in the Orlu Senatorial district until law and order are restored. The governor, who spoke through the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Cyprian Akaolisa, said he invited soldiers to restore calm in the area after members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) allegedly killed several policemen and innocent citizens in the area.

Akaolisa, who made the clarifications at a press briefing in Owerri, said the narrative that innocent people were being killed by the military was intended to shift attention from the unlawful activities of IPOB in Orlu. According to the governor, the government discovered that there were deliberate attempts by IPOB to attack Orlu people and the government in the guise that they were looking for Fulani herdsmen. He said: “These attacks on police stations and killing of policemen during #EndSARS were carried out by IPOB and not protesting youths for the sole purpose of hijacking and stealing weapons.

“They are now using those arms to destroy Orlu. They killed 10 policemen, a prominent Oru son, Ignatius Obiezu and one Emmanuel Okeke (Soludo) and collected their Hilux vehicles. “IPOB also shot and killed four Northerners doing their business in Orlu.

IPOB said they were looking for herdsmen, but these victims they killed before the crisis, were they herdsmen? “We heard Nnamdi Kanu celebrating the activities of his men in Orlu that they are doing well by killing innocent citizens. There’s no Fulani herdsman in Orlu. “So, we asked ourselves, what is the colouration that IPOB is trying to give this onslaught in Orlu? That’s why our government decided to invite the military to flush out IPOB and their so-called Eastern Security Network.”

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