Gunmen attacked and killed four police operatives and a civilian along the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway in Owerri, Imo State, at about 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
Simon Ekpa, a controversial Biafra agitator, has claimed responsibility for the killing of four police operatives in Owerri, Imo State, south-east Nigeria.
The killing
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that gunmen attacked and killed four police operatives along the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway at about 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
Aside from the operatives, the hoodlums also shot dead a woman - a Point on Sale (PoS) machine operator - in the area.
Mr Ekpa, a Nigerian who is based in Finland, heads Autopilot, a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The Biafra agitator also founded Biafra Defence Forces and Biafra Liberation Army, which are armed militant wings of the Autopilot IPOB.
He has been linked to some deadly attacks in the region.
Ekpa claims responsibility
In a post on his X handle shortly after the attack, Mr Ekpa announced that members of his Biafra Defence Forces had killed the operatives in Owerri.
"The Biafra Defence Forces Owerri Command has recovered weapons from the terrorists after neutralising them in numbers," he wrote on the microblogging platform at exactly 8:50 p.m. on Monday.
Mr Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen, often refers to Nigerian security operatives as "terrorists."
The Biafra agitator said he and his group are demanding the withdrawal of all Nigerian security forces from the South-east and that they were committed to enforcing the demand.
"If you think you will continue to use force and terrorism tactics to force us to remain in the union, this will continue to be your faith in Biafraland," Mr Ekpa stated, referring to the latest attack on the police.
The Biafra agitator often shares on his X handle details of attacks in Nigeria's south-east.
Like IPOB, which Nnamdi Kanu leads, Mr Ekpa is seeking the secession of the south-east and some parts of the south-south from Nigeria to form an independent state known as Biafra.
The agitators often refer to the South-east and South-south regions as "Biafraland."
Video clip
Mr Ekpa also attached a video clip to the X post.
The clip showed four rifles and some police case files displayed by some persons who claimed to have attacked and killed the operatives.
The clip, however, did not show the faces of the persons speaking in the background.
"Papa, it wasn't easy. You know today is the beginning of sit-at-home (in the South-east). People were asked to sit at home, and these people (police operatives) came out to extort people," one person said in the Igbo language.
"These are Nigerian terrorists who were at their duty post despite our leader's sit-at-home order. But they felt they work for the government and would not obey the order," he stated.
"They have now seen it happen today in Owerri, which is 29 July 2024."
The armed men appeared to be making a report of their operation to Mr Ekpa, who had earlier declared a four-day sit-at-home in the South-east.
Apparently addressing security operatives, one of the armed men added: "Our leader earlier told you, people, that any police or army operative in Biafraland, it is better you resign or we will use your head to work."
Connecting the dots
Mr Ekpa, on 21 July, declared a four-day sit-at-home across the five states in the South-east.
The Finland-based Nigerian, in a statement posted on his X handle, said the illegal order would be enforced in the region from 29 July to 2 August, excluding 1 August.
Several persons and the Nigerian government have called for Mr Ekpa's repatriation to Nigeria to face charges over his role in the insecurity in the South-east.
For instance, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, on 21 July, asked some members of the House of Representatives to consider repatriating Mr Ekpa to Nigeria to face prosecution.
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The Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, last June, accused the Finnish government and the European Union of blocking the repatriation of the Biafra agitator.
Last year, the Nigerian Senate asked the federal government to collaborate with the Finnish government to extradite Mr Ekpa for prosecution.
Finnish government speaks on Ekpa's repatriation
In February 2023, Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned The Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen, over threat by Mr Ekpa to disrupt the country's 2023 general elections.
Geoffrey Onyeama, the then Nigerian minister of foreign affairs, in a meeting with the Finnish ambassador, asked for the cooperation of the Finnish government to repatriate Mr Ekpa.
But Mrs Pylvanainen said although the Finnish government was concerned about the situation, there was a need to take Mr Ekpa's rights into consideration given that he is a Finnish citizen.
"So, everything has to obviously be done according to Finnish legislation," she stated.
