Buhari tells IPOB and ESN whom he says are the perpetrators of the killings, to expect tough response from security forces.
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of targeting non-indigenes in their alleged murderous activities.
Recall that a pregnant woman, Fatima Harira and her four children were murdered last Sunday with IPOB fingered as the chief culprit.
IPOB has however, through a statement by it’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, denied the charge.
Many Nigerians are not buying IPOB’s denial on the ground that the murderers who also kill people from the South East, use the banner of IPOB to carryout it’s atrocious activities.
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Just last week, the murderers beheaded a lawmaker from Anambra State. The same killers have also been using threat of violence on anyone that violates their compulsory Monday sit-at:home.
IPOB has distanced itself from the Monday sit-at-home but fail to reign in on the killers who enforce it using bloody violence.
A statement by senior special assistant to Buhari on media, Garba Shehu, said the president also warns against any acts of retaliation over the murder.
The statement reads: “The Presidency wishes to caution against any knee-jerk reactions, the creation of panic, disruption of lives and livelihoods, or even retaliatory violence following the viral videos of the alleged killings of non-indigenes by the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and its mother terrorist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
“While expert agencies are now verifying the factuality and veracity of the claims that accompany the horrid pictures being circulated, we call on all citizens to avoid hasty steps or conclusions that could exacerbate the situation, and on the contrary keep to a line of conduct that will help the law to take its proper course.
“The Presidency also cautions the public against the indiscriminate sharing of posts on social media so as to deny vested interests who seek to divide us and create disturbance the chance to do so.
“In the issuance of his very strong condemnation of these “wild, barbarous and wanton killings of innocent people” in the South-East as well as the other parts of the country, which he described as “deeply distressing,” President Muhammadu Buhari warns the perpetrators of these acts to expect tough response from the security forces.”
