The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Friday, debunked the allegation that its militia arm, Eastern Security Network (ESN) engaged in kidnapping for ransom.
IPOB said the claims by a group in Taraba that ESN operatives kidnapped some people and demanded N20 million ransom was false and unfounded.
The IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful in a statement disclosed that on June 13, 2024, the public, especially Biafrans, were alarmed over viral videos of what he described as foreign and local Fulani terrorists in Biafraland with various charms and weapons in the middle of the night who he said were intercepted by the 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 not true. The so-called Taraba indigenes claimed that the men that ESN intercepted in the middle of the night of June 12, 2024, were fishermen.”
NewsNow Nigeria on X said Powerful described ESN operatives as well-trained and disciplined vigilantes with mandates to dislodge marauding Fulani terrorists from the Biafra territory.
