Published On The Biafra Post
January 29, 2025
Narrating his story, a victim, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of victimization narrated how he was “subjected to torture, false accusation and labeling all because he was at a hotel raided by the Nigerian Army.”
The Nigerian Army is facing accusations of illegal arrests, torture, and falsely labelling young men in southeastern Nigeria as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
These allegations come at a time when the southeastern region is grappling with a severe crisis. Reports indicate that security forces have committed human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and torture, while responding to the violence in the region.
Narrating his story, a victim, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of victimization narrated how he was “subjected to torture, false accusation and labeling all because he was at a hotel raided by the Nigerian Army.”
Recounting his ordeal, the victim noted that he was arrested in 2021.
“I was working with my boss and lodged at a hotel in Orlu, you know we were there when the Army raided the place and tagged us (that’s me and others arrested), as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra.” he narrated.
“We were all arrested and taken to a location. We were later paraded before the press. The Army displayed IPOB flags, put guns and weed in our front. None of those things belonged to me, but they invited the press and accused us of being in possession all of those things.”
He noted that he spent one month in the Nigerian Army custody, adding, “We were starved and tortured, although I was not really tortured like others. I got out but there were some other persons in the location who I left behind.”
“They paraded us like common criminals and they also published it on newspapers,” he told SaharaReporters.
He described the experience as one he does not want to remember
“I do not want to remember the experience. Each time, it makes me break down. Even till now, I do not trust anyone. You know, that kind of accusation that is not even true, it would hurt to the bones,” he told SaharaReporters.
However, efforts made by SaharaReporters to get the Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyeama Nwachukwu, on his mobile line failed.
In September 2024, the IPOB alleged that innocent persons in the Southeastern region of the country were being detained and tortured.
The group said, “Ndigbo are the highest ethnic group that are being detained with accusations of being either members of IPOB or ESN or framed as kidnappers by the notorious Nigerian Police, DSS, and Army.
“Ndigbo have been profiled because of their ethnicity by the Nigerian government and hunted and detained across all the illegal detention centres in Nigeria.
“Not only the innocent Igbo are detained in these illegal detention facilities, but also innocent people from other ethnic groups are locked up in these gulags.
“Detention facilities in Nigeria are places to search for your missing relative if he or she hasn’t been tortured to death or butchered for organ blackmarket by the notorious Nigerian security agencies
“Until today, some of the IPOB members that the Nigerian Army and police abducted during President Donald Trump’s inauguration rally in 2016 at Port Harcourt (Igweocha), Rivers State, are still missing. IPOB is still searching for those men and women who were abducted during the peaceful rally, more than 8 years on,” the statement by the IPOB read in part.
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