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In a bid to ease travel woes, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and military leaders to remove roadblocks in the Southeast, allowing vehicles to move freely and efficiently through the region.
Through its image maker, Emma Powerful, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) condemned the military’s unchecked abuses at checkpoints, particularly the Ukwu Orji barrier in Mbaitolu LGA, where soldiers have created a culture of fear, subjecting travelers to relentless intimidation, harassment, and extortion, rendering the Owerri/Onitsha expressway a treacherous route.
The Indigenous People of Biafra’s spokesperson revealed a chilling trend of abuse, where Igbo travelers are being subjected to dehumanizing treatment, brutal torture, and forcible disappearances at military and police checkpoints in the Eastern Region, with the notorious Ukwu Orji checkpoint along the Owerri/Onitsha expressway earning the grim moniker “kill and bury” for its egregious human rights violations.
“The soldiers at this particular checkpoint deliberately keep all the vehicles that get to the checkpoint at 10 pm to around 12 am until each vehicle pays them N5,000 before they can be allowed to pass to continue on their journey. Sometimes, after unnecessary delays and extortions by the soldiers at this checkpoint, the passengers are attacked and kidnapped on the way.
“The soldiers and police officers at this checkpoint are informants to kidnappers. They are professional armed rubbers who use guns and uniforms issued by the Nigeria government to intimidate and force people to part with their money or be delayed till the next day or even be killed. Similar incidents happen in all the military, and Police checkpoints scattered all over the South East Region. The uncountable number of army and police checkpoints collect N5,000 or more from each vehicle in the South East Region and make persons and vehicular movements difficult and expensive.
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” The militarization of the South East Region is not only intimidating and oppressive policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria and her murderous Security Agencies, but it is also a plan to occupy Biafra territory. The security agencies of Nigeria also contravene UN human rights commission rules regularly in carrying out their evil plans in Igboland. The Nigerian government’s economic strangulation policy against Ndigbo can be felt by all inhabitants of Igbo land.
“The excessive extortions at these military and Police checkpoints make the cost of goods and transportation exorbitant compared to other regions of their country. Holding passengers at gunpoint from 10 pm to 12 am is against fundamental human rights. All of that done in order to extort huge amounts of cash from travelers before allowing them to cross the army or police checkpoint.
“This shows that the Nigerian military is part of the criminality going on in Imo State and the entire South East Region. IPOB in the past has raised alarms that the military and police checkpoints in the East are part of the insecurity of kidnapping and car snatching gangs’ activities.
The movement stated that the deployment of military and police personnel at checkpoints has been ineffective in addressing insecurity, and has instead resulted in widespread abuses, including the intimidation and terrorization of civilians, sexual assaults, financial exploitation, and complicity with kidnappers, who share the proceeds of ransom payments with these security forces.