IPOB Members Allege Persecution Of Their Foreign Member On Arrival To Country

… Say Security Agents Man-Hunting Them

The alleged effort by Security Agents to silence Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) members has taken another dimension. There is still an alleged manhunt for members of IPOB in Foreign countries while they have continued to protest in foreign land. This is according to a source who pleaded anonymity.

Late last year the group was proscribed as a terrorist group by the Federal Government of Nigeria. But that did not stop the group from carrying out their rallies in foreign countries where their rights and freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are guaranteed.

Ogbe Onyinye Cyril, a staunch member of the proscribed group, who disappeared in December 2015 after he was declared wanted because of the death of two security officers during the Asaba/Onitsha Bridge Head rally and his dedication and involvement in the activities of the Indigenous Peoples Of Biafra (IPOB).

The said Ogbe Onyinye Cyril hails from Asaba in Delta State, where his family is said to be constantly harassed by security agents looking for him.

The source stated that life has become a nightmare for the Ogbe’s family members since he was declared wanted in 2015 and because of all his recent participation in the protests organized by the group in Germany.

For further emphasis, Ogbe Onyinye Cyril and some other members of IPOB that escaped to foreign land are wanted by security operatives in Nigeria. According to a family member who pleaded anonymity because of security reasons, said that the villagers now allegedly conspire with security agencies to torment the family. They are traumatised over their brother’s IPOB ties, yet suffer unjust mistreatment. Day and night, they are allegedly hounded by security operatives who storm their homes in search of their brother, for his role in the 2015 protest and his continued participation in IPOB’s protests in Germany.

The source further averred that the Federal Government saw the otherwise peaceful protests as major embarrassments that could not go unpunished. On this ground, IPOB was labelled a terrorist group by the Federal Government and was subsequently proscribed.

The Federal Government had also declared all leading IPOB members wanted.

Now, IPOB members in foreign countries who visited home after the rally on 30th May 2018 at Düsseldorf on the remembrance day of Biafrans that died were arrested at the airport by security operatives upon visiting the country.

One of the traumatised relations of Ogbe Cyril, said they were forced to always hide inside their homes when they could no longer cope with the incessant harassments by security operatives hunting for their brother Onyinye.

She said, “When we heard that some of their members that visited after the protest had all been arrested with some members of their families, we became apprehensive because we were afraid that what happened in 2015/2016 where we lost his wife, his new born baby and his mother, will happen again. On the 1st of August, some armed men who were not in uniform but we suspected them to be DSS operatives came to our house and arrested our uncles.

The source however, alleged that Onyinye had not committed any crime apart from asking for a referendum to determine the Sovereign State of Biafra and the rally on 30th May, 2018 at Düsseldorf which was peaceful. “We are worried about his life if he comes back and they arrest him. Nobody has heard about his colleagues that were arrested and that is our fear”.

Furthermore, every attempt to reach Mr. Onyinye to get his own narrative was unsuccessful as his phone number was always ringing but could not be answered.

Also efforts to get the reaction of the Army proved abortive as they declined to comment on the matter. But a security source who has remained anonymous because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told our correspondent that “the 30th May protest and other similar protests around the world by members of the proscribed group, IPOB was a huge embarrassment to the government and all those involved would face the full wrath of the law. We have credible intelligence about the identities of all the IPOB protesters, especially those that protested at the British Embassy in Germany, some of whom are already in custody while the manhunt for others are on.

IPOB has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation and the government will not allow the miscreants to undermine the sovereignty of the nation. Onyinye is wanted for the death of some security men, he can continue to run but he will definitely be arrested,” he affirmed.