The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has ordered operatives to be ruthless against members of the proscribed Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and its Eastern Security Network.
Adamu gave the order on Tuesday when he visited Imo state.
SaharaReporters had reported how armed men in the early hours of Monday attacked a correctional facility in Owerri, the Imo State capital, freeing some inmates.
They also proceeded to the state police headquarters where they set ablaze the building and destroyed all vehicles within the vicinity.
Speaking shortly after visiting the facilities, Adamu said police officers must use their weapons against the IPOB members and crush them to the last man.
The police had earlier accused IPOB and ESN of being behind the attack and similar ones in the region.
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.”
