Army denies claims by IPOB of killing Igbos in Southeast

The Nigerian Army has denied the claims of a mass killing of innocent Igbos at a river and dumping them in the water as alleged by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Reacting to a viral video by the self-acclaimed leader of IPOB, Simon Ekpa, the Nigerian Army described the allegations as “spurious and unfounded claims”.

According to a statement by the Director Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, the claims by Simon Ekpa contained some “unimaginable and not well couched falsehood targeted at whipping-up negative sentiments against troops and inciting anarchy in the South East region”.

The statement says, the troops in the video footage, as the insignia visible on their berets shows, identifies them as personnel of the Nigerian Navy, who were engaged in a routine test firing of a weapon system mounted on a vehicle and in order to ensure the safety of other road users and commuters, the troops took precautionary measures by temporarily halting vehicular movement along the route, until the test firing was safely concluded.

Major General Nwachukwu explained that the observers of the exercise were kept at a safe distance, maintaining transparency and prioritising the safety of all involved.

The Director Army Public Relations explained further that preliminary finding also indicated that the occurrence took place in the Southwest region of the country and not the Southeast as advertently portrayed by the “false alarmist and propagandists”.

“There was no evidence to support the assertion that individuals were being shot at, in the river, nor have there been any report from local communities regarding the discovery of corpses in the area”.

The Nigerian Army has however called on the public to disregard the claims by IPOB noting that it remains vigilant and prepared to counter any attempt to destabilise the Southeast region.