*Say Army still patrolling community
The family of the Leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the Commissioner of Police, Abia State, Mr. Ene Okon, of being ‘the major security threat” to the burial ceremony of their late parents, Eze Israel Kanu, and Ugoeze Sally Kanu ,slated for Friday, February 14.
The family has also cried cried out against the continued presence of soldiers in their Isiama Afaraukwu Ibeku country home.
Spokesman of the family, Emmanuel Kanu, in an interview with journalists in Umuahia, expressed disappointment over the utterances of the police boss which he said was causing “unnecessary tension” in the state.
He accused the CP of raising false alarm to justify a possible military action against mourners and guests of the family on the false pretext that they are IPOB members.
Kanu said the CP was deliberately creating the false impression that the burial would be turned into a rally for Biafra agitation by IPOB members, ” an imaginary fiction that only exists in the mind of our mockers.”
In his words: “How on earth can anybody imagine that the burial of Onyeze (traditional ruler) will suddenly be turned into agitation ground?
” It’s ridiculous that the CP has decided to concoct all kinds of tales to demarket our family, disrupt the ceremony and find excuses for more killings of our people and innocent mourners tagging them as IPOB members.
” The CP is busy dishing out false information about the real situation in our community. His intelligence gathering is poor and questionable if he believes anybody has any sinister plans other than the burial that day.
” Afaraukwu is peaceful and will remain so before, during and after the burial except if the security agencies themselves are hatching such evil plots . Our community does not need the heavy presence of security for ordinary traditional burial.
“We want to reiterate that our parents’ burial will be peaceful and all those spreading false information about it will be disappointed. What we have on February 14 is burial of our parents, and not Biafra rally.”
The family Spokesman called for the immediate withdrawal of soldiers who he said had continued to patrol the community since last Sunday.
He said the heavy presence of soldiers or any security agency in the community was “needles and a sheer waste of resources “, stressing that the services of soldiers are most needed in the North East in the on-going war against insurgents.
“Nobody is armed in our community and we have made this position very clear that we are only going to conduct a peaceful burial for our late parents.
” The Army, police and other security agencies should leave us alone and stop creating panic in the state. We don’t want any of our guests to be harassed or killed under any guise.”
He called on the international community to hold the CP, the Army and the Federal Government responsible should anything untoward happen to mourners, and guests to the family during the burial.
