South-east governors: Criminals now hide under IPOB/ESN to carry out killings

Governors of the south-east region say the insecurity in their states have gone beyond activities linked to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The governors’ position was contained in a statement issued by Dave Umahi, governor of Ebonyi and chairman of the south-east governors forum, after a virtual meeting with his colleagues on Wednesday.

While warning criminals to desist from hiding under the Eastern Security Network (ESN) to perpetrate attacks, the governors urged youths to be more productive.

“We warn all criminals who have styled themselves as IPOB/ESN to kill our people to immediately stop,” the statement reads.

“We are aware that the insecurity and killings in South East have gone beyond IPOB/ESN as any criminal finds it easy to hide under such a name to commit crimes. We are determined to do everything to protect the lives and properties of our people.

“Our youths are advised to leverage on the various empowerment and agricultural programmes by our Governors to better their lives.”

The governors also promised to investigate the recent beheading of two policemen said to have taken place in the south-east.

“We condemn in strong terms the video clip and write-up we saw in some social and print media where two policemen were said to have been killed and their heads cut-off by youths who styled themselves as members of IPOB/ESN,” they said.

“We have resolved among ourselves to work with security agencies to determine the authenticity of this video/report and if found to be true, to apprehend the perpetrators by all possible means to face the law.

“We are aware of similar videos in the past and which when subjected to forensic review were found out to have happened outside Nigeria.

“We assure Nigerians, especially the Police community, that we will not rest until we have done justice to this matter.”