Police: IPOB/ESN behind attack on INEC HQ in Imo

The Imo police command says the prescribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is behind the attack on the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state.

TheCable had reported how gunmen attacked the INEC head office in Owerri, the capital of the state, on Monday.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Michael Abattam, police spokesperson in the state, said operatives engaged the attackers in a gunfight, killing three of them while two officers died in the process.

“On 12/12/2022 at about 0330hours, armed bandits suspected to be members of the Proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network (ESN) in their numbers, came to the INEC office along Port-Harcourt road, New Owerri, shooting sporadically, threw improvised explosives into the premises of the INEC, from a Petroleum Filling Station that share fence with the commission,” the statement reads.

”The police operatives on guard professionally took vantage positions and engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun battle. The hoodlums who were overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the police operatives, took to their heels, abandoning a Lexus RX330 Jeep with registration number IMO WER-82LZ. They sped off in their other vehicles towards Onitsha Road and were given a hot chase by the operatives.

”On getting to Ogbaku along Onitsha Road, the hoodlums, again engaged the police operatives in a more fierce gun duel and in the process, three of the hoodlums were neutralized and two others arrested with various degrees of bullet injuries, while others scampered for safety into the nearby communities.

”At the INEC office, two offices were affected by the explosives and petrol bomb; however the main building remains intact.”

The police spokesperson said items recovered from the attackers include three AK-47 rifles, four pump action guns, three improvised explosive devices, and four locally made bombs.

Other recovered items are one axe, three vehicles, charms, one red beret, five native caps, three phones, two walkie talkie, three ATM cards, eight cartridges, one ammunition and two bunch of keys.

Abattam said officers who sustained injuries are receiving treatment in the hospital and are in “stable condition”.

He added that “concerted efforts are being made to arrest the fleeing suspects since they cannot go far, due to the various degrees of injuries they sustained in the gun duel”.