Gunmen suspected to be operatives of the Eastern Security Network established by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, have killed four Hausa traders in Imo state.
A member of the Hausa community in the state told SaharaReporters that three northerners were killed in Orlu while the fourth person was attacked in Umuaka Njaba Local Government Area.
He accused ESN operatives of carrying out both attacks.
The source said the victims had been buried in accordance with Islamic rites.
“They (gunmen) opened fire on three Suya sellers in Orlu and another one in Umuaka Njaba. Those killed didn’t do anything to them. The ESN men just stormed their shops and killed them.
“Enough of these senseless killing of innocent souls by IPOB security operatives. Even the police are not helping the matter; it seems they can’t do anything to these people.
“They (police) gave us a car in which we took their bodies and buried them. Since then, we haven’t heard anything from them,” the source told SaharaReporters.
He also sent a horrific photograph showing the victims, lifeless and drenched in blood, to SaharaReporters.
IPOB’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu, had in December 2020 launched ESN to protect the people of South-East and South-South regions from terrorists and bandits allegedly trooping in from the North.
The IPOB leader described the outfit as a replica of the Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun, earlier launched by the South-West governors to curb insecurity in the region.
“The sole aim and objective of this newly formed security outfit known as Eastern Security Network are to halt every criminal activity and the terrorist attack on Biafraland,” Kanu had said.
“This outfit, which is a vigilante group like the Amotekun in the South-West and the Miyetti Allah security outfit, will ensure the safety of our forests and farmland, which terrorists have converted into slaughter grounds and raping fields.”
