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  • News - South East - Imo
  • Updated: February 09, 2021

Biafra: Dozens Of IPOB Detainees In Owerri Federal Correctional Center Regain Freedom

Biafra: Dozens Of IPOB Detainees In Owerri Federal Correctio

Over 70 members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), have been freed after spending about nine months in prison custody in Owerri, Imo State.

IPOB lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, who confirmed this last Friday said they were freed on February 1, after the Chief Judge of Imo State, Ijeoma Agugua, granted them bail.

Ejiofor said the 76 IPOB members were “unlawfully” put in prison since 2020, after their arraignment in a magistrate court which, he said, refused to listen to their application for bail, about four times.

“They were arrested on their way to a burial by some soldiers.

"After hours of interrogation, they were handed over to the police and the police detained them,” Ejiofor said according to Premium Times.

“No doubt about it, they had disclosed their identity as IPOB members.”

The police, however, in August, when they paraded the arrested IPOB members, said that they were on their way to meet a native doctor to fortify them against bullet-penetration.

Isaac Akinmoyede, the then commissioner of police in Imo State, said it was believed that the arrested IPOB members were planning an attack on security agencies, “with the aim of snatching weapons”.

Ejiofor, who thanked the chief judge for being “courageous enough” to free the IPOB members, said the magistrate court did not have the jurisdiction to listen to the case, in the first instance, and that no charge was filed against the IPOB members.

He accused some powerful persons in the Imo State Government of having a prejudice against IPOB and using the judiciary to hunt down its members.

He said the freed IPOB member would “definitely” seek redress against their “unlawful” detention.

READ ALSO: IPOB’s Special Counsel Rubbishes Open Grazing In Nigeria

IPOB, which enjoys massive following in the South-east region of Nigeria, has been agitating for an independent state of Biafra, and has frequently clashed with security agencies.

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