BY NGOZI OKORIE
FIVE soldiers, who allegedly retired from the Nigerian Army, have joined the Eastern Security Network, ESN, the Indigenous People of Biafra has said.
The proscribed group said more soldiers from the South-East, particularly those in the Operation Lafiya Dole Theatre Command, in Maiduguri were also being persuaded to resign from the Army and join the ESN.
It said the five soldiers who had joined the ESN, made the move to ensure security in the South East and parts of the South-South region, adding that there were other soldiers, particularly of the South-East extraction, who would soon leave for other reasons to join ESN.
The Biafran separatist group, however, debunked reports that the ESN was being positioned to become a regional military force or IPOB’s private army.
These were disclosed in a statement by the Media and Publicity Secretary, IPOB, Emma Powerful.
The statement said, “At least five soldiers of the Nigerian Army recently resigned to join Nnamdi Kanu’s Eastern Security Network. However, the military sources information that the ESN is silently building a regional military force, is unfounded.
“However, the information from the military sources that more soldiers from the South-East, particularly those in the Operation Lafiya Dole Theatre Command, are currently being wooed to resign and join the ESN, is indisputable.
“ESN boys are not a bunch of rookies and untrained fellows brandishing guns. I personally know five soldiers from my hometown in Anambra State who left the Nigerian Army to join the ESN.
“Two of them were formerly serving in Operation Lafiya Dole, Borno State before they quit.”
IPOB added, “We do not blame Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, who recently announced the formation of the Eastern Security Network, as a regional force to protect the South-East and South South from banditry and attacks from killer herdsmen.
“We are fighting banditry here on a daily basis, but our effort seems not to be recognised by Government.”
In July 2012, about 356 soldiers in the North-East and other theatres of operation resigned from the Nigerian Army, the IPOB said.
According to the group, some of the soldiers left on voluntary retirement, while others cited loss of interest as their reasons for disengagement.
It said, “The soldiers had written to the Army authorities on July 3, 2020, under Reference NA/COAS/001, quoting the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service Soldiers/Rating/Airmen (Revised) 2017.
“The approval of the voluntary disengagement of the 356 soldiers was contained in a 17-page circular from Nigerian Army Headquarters, AHQ DOAA/G1/300/92, signed by a Brig Gen now a Maj. Gen, who was once the Commander of the Onitsha Military Cantonment.
“Again, this January, another batch of 127 soldiers resigned from the Nigerian Army and are due to leave in May 2021.
“They comprised one Master Warrant Officer, three Warrant Officers, 22 Staff Sergeants, 29 Sergeants, 64 Corporals, seven Lance Corporals and one Private.”
It alleged that two weeks after Kanu launched the ESN on December 12, 2020, the Nigerian Army, on December 30, deployed combat helicopters, gun trucks and soldiers to search some suspected forests in the South-East states where the ESN was said to be camping.
“The military search had been ongoing for days, and had no time frame, as the Army was acting on orders from above. The Army in the deployed combat helicopter did not know that a video from the drones and hidden cameras, installed by the ESN, had captured the Army helicopters, their vehicles and soldiers searching for the camp of the ESN for possible arrests,” the statement said.
