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The family of leader of outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted claims by Abia State Commissioner of Police, Anthony Ogbizi, that police recovered weapons when they raided their compound.
The Police Commissioner had said that they discovered cache of lethal weapons in Kanu’s home at Afara Ukwu on 8 October together with soldiers from 14 Brigade, Ohafia.
However, the family’s spokesman Prince Emmanuel Kanu, in a chat with journalists, said the family had no gun or weapons. He added that if the police found any, they planted it.
"This new CP was the same man who came to our house two days after the September 14 invasion with two Hilux vans and his Prado SUV and pulled down the car porch and destroyed the vehicles parked outside,” Emmanuel Kanu said.
"This same CP hurriedly after the invasion on the October 8, issued a press release telling the whole world that they discovered bombs in my house. The army on the other hand, denied that there was no invasion and that they never went to my house, what a contradiction.
"A house that there has not been any person inside except our guard who we asked to look after the house, all of a sudden they invaded the house and came back to say they found a den gun, double barrel gun and petrol bomb. Who manufactured them? Who kept them there? That is the question to ask.”
He said IPOB was a peaceful organisation and has never resorted to carrying arms to press home its demands.
Meanwhile, the family have also petitioned the UN and the EU, accusing the Nigerian Army of looting valuables from Kanu’s home.
The Nigerian Army raided Kanu’s Afaraukwu home on 8 October where it claimed to have found lethal weapons.
Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, who signed the petition on behalf of the traditional ruler of the community, noted in the petition that CCTV footage showed a team of soldiers and police looting the house.
The petition read: “We are solicitors to the family of His Royal Majesty, Eze Isreal Okwu-Kanu, hereinafter referred to as ‘our client’ and on whose standing instruction we file this communication with the British Government.
The petition read: “We are solicitors to the family of His Royal Majesty, Eze Isreal Okwu-Kanu, hereinafter referred to as ‘our client’ and on whose standing instruction we file this communication with the British Government.
"It is our brief, that on the 8th day of October, 2017, our client’s son’s home (Nnamdi Kanu) in Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, in Abia State, was invaded, and violently looted by rampaging Nigerian soldiers and their police counterparts.
"The CCTV footage which picked the horrendous raids, revealed the brazen looting and carting away of valuables and household equipment by the above named security agents.
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