Nigeria prison attack: who is the group suspected by the authorities?
Nigerian military.
(Illustrative image) STEFAN HEUNIS AFP / File
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Over 1,800 inmates dressed up in Nigeria.
They escaped in an armed group attack on a prison in Owerri, in Imo state, in the south-eastern part of the country.
And for the authorities, it is the trail of the Biafran separatists that seems privileged.
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According to the Nigerian police chief,
the attackers were
indeed "
members of Ipob, The Indigeanous People of Biafra
".
Created in 2012, IPOB has established itself as one of the main independence organizations in the region.
The movement was initially peaceful, very active via a radio station founded by their leader Nnamdi Kanu, Radio Biafra.
In recent years, after Kanu's arrest and then exile, the movement has taken a military turn, notably with the creation of its armed wing called ESN “Eastern Security Network”.
This Monday, the spokesperson for Ipob denied being at the origin of this offensive, but the attack on Imo prison comes a week after the arrest of 16 members of the ESN, suspected of be at the origin of numerous attacks by the Nigerian security forces.
Nnamdi Kanu even tweeted a few hours later "that
no soul deserves to stay in jail in Nigeria
".
For his part, President Muhammadu Buhari denounced attacks committed by terrorists and anarchists.
And the neighboring state of Abia immediately declared a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
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