IPOB denies killing military couple, identifies alleged killer

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB says it is not responsible for the murder of a military couple on transit to Imo State a few days ago.

Fresh reporters recalls that the soldiers, Master Warrant Officer (MWO) Audu M Linus (retired) and Private (Pte)Gloria Matthew, were beheaded on Saturday on their way to Imo for their traditional marriage.

The Nigerian Army had in a statement on Tuesday, accused the secessionist group and its militant wing, the Eastern Security Network, ESN of being responsible for the crime.

The Army Director of Public Relations, Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement, expressed anger over IPOB’s alleged inability to spare a South Easterner.

However, a statement by IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, denied the allegations, saying they could not have hurt their daughter, describing the incident as abominable.

The statement accused the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services, DSS of killing the military couple.

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The statement reads, “We, therefore, wish to place on record that IPOB has no hands in the said atrocity which is an abominable act in Igbo tradition. No true Igbo will hurt an in-law, how much more a married daughter (Ada) in Igbo land. Even the ancestors will avenge such wickedness.

“We cannot kill our sister who is about to marry but those who killed them were those Nigerian government and its security agencies, especially the military and DSS created to demonise IPOB and ESN.

“These agents of death some of whom we have made their identities public severally, are behind the killings of these soldiers, not IPOB or ESN operatives,” the separatist group claimed.